Book Vs Movie

From the beginning, I had a feeling that the movie was going to be different than the book. For example, the first scene of the entire movie is Amir deciding that he has to go back to Kabul in order to “be good again”. This scene gives the audience a sense of what is going to happen; from that scene anyone can decipher that Amir has to correct some sort of wrong he committed earlier in his life. When you read the book, all that happens is a surprise. I had no idea what was happening the entire time and that made the book more enjoyable.

Additionally, many important factors of the book were left out or changed in the movie. I do not really understand what the director’s motive was in changing Hassan’s birthday present. Why not show that Baba fixed Hassan’s lip and demonstrate to the viewer’s how much he loved him? I was bothered by the fact that the movie cut out Sohrab’s suicide attempt completely as well as the problems Amir faced in trying to adopt Sohrab. Knowing that Sohrab would have rather died than go back to an orphanage helps the reader realize how terrible his situation was and how horrendous Assef treated Sorhab. By avoiding the problems Amir faced in trying to adopt Sohrab, the movie made it seem like there was always going to be a happy ending. Although movies are stereotyped for having happy endings, the book gives readers a slight doubt. There is a possibility that Amir and Sohrab can live happily ever after in California, but there is also a chance that they might have to stay in Afghanistan and suffer. A large purpose of the book was to show how bad the situation was in Afghanistan and by taking these scenes out, the movie does not give their viewers the amount of knowledge and understanding the book gives its readers.

On another note, I think the characters in the movie were relatable to the ones in the book. Even though there were differences from the characters we created in our minds, to the ones shown on the screen, each character fit their role. The director missed small details however. Assef is blonde, but is portrayed as a brunette in the movie and Assef is the one that gave the speeches in the stadium. These small details do not make much of an overall difference, but since the movie is based off the book, I would have thought that the director would try to make it is a similar as possible; missing small details makes it seem like he was not paying much attention or that maybe he did not even read the book.

In essence, the movie made words come to life and therefore give viewers a visual representation which in return made the movie sad. Yet, I believe that if the movie added the details it was missing, it would become even more depressing, hence giving an actual illustration of how life in Afghanistan was.

Jose Novas