Kite Runner Book vs. Movie

            I have always noticed that movies based on a book always exempt certain details or just do not have enough time to include all the detail a novel is able to display, and the Kite Runner movie is a clear example.

            When comparing the novel to the book the first difference I noticed was that Hassan did not have a harelip on the movie as he did on the book. His 12^th birthday gift where Baba paid for the surgery was never mentioned, or the director just began the movie implying it was post the surgery. The next scene difference was Amir and Hassan’s first encounter with Assef. In the book they are confronted on a hill, however, in the movie, it occurs on a street in the city. The fact that the director did not include the brass knuckles to Assef frustrated me since I viewed those brass knuckles as a symbol for Assef’s brutality and aggressive personality, not having them made Assef seem less scary and less intimidating.

            The vast amount of differences and exemptions come towards the middle and end of the story. In the book, as Baba and Amir flee from Kabul, Amir is said to be 18 years old, whereas in the movie, he is still depicted by a much younger actor.  When they finally arrive in Peshawar, they are kept in the basement of a house in destitute conditions, full of people, rats and feces. Only a week to a week and a half later they enter a gasoline truck to move on. In the movie however, the director completely omits the week they spend waiting, and they move from storage truck to gasoline truck and continue on their way.

            Amir and Baba’s life in America is depicted with much greater detail in the book than in the novel. Baba is supposed to be depressed and uncomfortable in America but the movie is not able to display his emotions. The incident he has at the store  (asking ID) where e Amir apologizes and contains the situation is omitted, and the process they both undergo every weekend to prepare for the flea market is also omitted. I believe these omissions refrained the viewers of the movie from feeling and witnessing the hardships they encountered in America that were not a problem in Afghanistan. However, the two major differences that affected me the most were how Amir’s fight with Assef and Amir taking Sohrab back to America. In the book, Amir begins to laugh during the fight because he couldn’t take the pain any longer and stays in the hospital two weeks because he got beat so bad. In the movie, he is able to walk out of the house, climb over a wall, and never goes to the hospital. That greatly reduces the gravity of the fight. As for Sohrab’s adoption, Amir was encountering lots of difficulties in the book to adopt his nephew and be able to take him to America, in the movie, they just hope on a plane and g, no questions asked, no papers to sign. Due to the omission of difficulties in the adoption process, it takes away the struggle Amir actually went though in the book to take his nephew home. Since I read the book, in my opinion, the movie makes it seem like it was an easy task to go to Kabul and save Sohrab, where in reality it took much more effort, time, love, and determination to do so.

            The movie is able to display the main entities of the Kite Runner Book, however, some essential details were left out which may alter the views of the characters by one who has not read the book. I recommend reading the book a thousand times over watching the movie.