Thoughts on movie

I'll start by saying that I thought the movie was a significant downgrade to the novel. I think the actors chosen were poor and the movie left out too many emotional and valuable parts of the book. I believe that the movie missed out on a lot of the emotional aspects that the book had provided to the reader. Most significantly, the scene where Sohrab cuts his wrists out of anger after being told that he'd have to go back to an orphanage was left out of the novel. This scene was key to solidifying the fact that Amir grew into a completely new person.

I absolutely hated how the movie started. I believe the fact that the movie started with Amir all grown up takes away from his growth from his mistakes as a child into a mentally at peace man. To me, the Kite Runner's main story was based around the growth of Amir, and they almost killed it by starting the movie with Amir as an adult.

I think the kid versions of Hassan and Amir were great and almost perfectly fit the characters I remember reading about in the book. I also think Rahim Khan was a great fit for his character. Baba, Amir as an adult, Soraya, and even the General just simply did not fit the characters I had envisioned when I read the book. Amir seems too relaxed about everything. Baba did not give off the same totalitarian-type attitude portrayed in the book. I thought Soraya would have been a bit more attractive, because in the book Amir describes her as if she's a super model. Oh, I forgot to mention Assef. My god what a terrible actor. I mean, seriously? Who the hell directed this movie? Are you dumb? Assef was literally white...no...almost clear colored and by the time he's the taliban official, he's black? Seriously?

I think that the movie was also very fast-paced, and that if I had not read the book, that I would not be able to piece together a lot of the things that went on in the plot. The movie also failed to create a lot of the strong relationships built up in the novel. Baba and Ali do not seem to hold more than a normal servant to boss relationship. Hassan and Amir as children also (to me) don't seem to have as strong of a relationship before Hassan gets raped like they do in the novel. In the novel, they are characterized as being literally inseparable before the raping. In the movie, the two seem to not have that strong of a relationship.

I do think the movie did some good things, though. I think the movie captured a lot of the hostility that Afghanistan gave off in the book in the second half of the book. I also think that the movie captured a lot of the nostalgia and regret that Amir expressed in the book on his travel/adventure back in Afghanistan.