movie and book relationship

Wendell Pfeffer

The Kite Runner comparison

            I was surprised that the movie turned out to be quite similar to the book. There are many things that were left out in the movie, but ultimately I think the book resembles the movie quite well. The biggest difference from the movie and the book is Hassan and Amir’s relationship. This is where I was quite disappointed because the movie did not resemble their emotions and attitudes towards one another quite well. The story in the book made Amir seem like a bad person and it demonstrated his feelings towards the situation he has to deal with as a child perfectly – his father. In the movie however, that was quite an issue. Also Amir did not seem like such a bad person for some reason in the movie, I felt as if there was a good and an appropriate reason he did what he did as a child to Hassan. Amirs character even differed in the book and the movie because there were times that Amir made himself look like a bad person, but in total I really did not have the same feeling of hatred towards him. The person that took on Hassans role in the movie played his character to a much bigger degree.  Hassan angered me when he was a child because why would he undermine himself to such an extent with Amir. He would give himself no credit what so ever to anything they did and he would act not like a friend towards Amir, but as a slave literally. One incident that clearly resembles this factor in the movie is when Amir says “Hassan if I told you to eat dirt would you eat it?” and Hassan says “yes I would, but you wouldn’t tell me to do something like that would you?” I mean seriously scenes like this really make me lose my sorrow for Hassan. Another thing I noticed In the movie was that their relationship actually seemed much better than in the book. They would hold hands and run across in the street together and look forward to what life brings them. The thing that most amazed me in the movie was the kite tournament in Kabul – that was by far the best scene because it gave you a first person view on the kits as they slashed each other down.

            The best character by far that was played well in the movie and the book was Assefs. His evilness was well played in the rape and when Amir encountered him later on in the movie. The movie like in the book represented his cruel character all throughout – he was a psychopath from child to adult. Babas character is also represented well all throughout the movie in relation with the book.  He is a man of dignity and courage and that is shown well in the movie especially in the beginning where he has complete control of his life and Amir’s in Kabul. Also the feeling of contempt Baba had towards Amir was demonstrated well and their relationship when they moved to the United States increased like in the book.