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.

Movie to book Comparison

         Realistically speaking, the movie itself is not horrible. Having read the novel before hand, there is a sort of bias that accompanies you as you watch the movie. Hosseini is so careful to give his readers every single detail there is possible which in turns allows the reader to have this perfect image in their head of how the scenes would play out in “real life”.  Though these details are advantageous while you read the novel, they do take away from watching the movie because they make you upset when any sort of detail or account is left out, or so I feel.

            Already from the beginning there are minor discrepancies occurring between the film adaptation and the novel itself but none of them seem to truly affect the story line all too much. The film starts towards the middle part of the novel and then goes back to the beginning, but I did not find that to be much of a bother. What I did find very interesting of the film is that in all the scenes where Hassan and Amir are running, Hassan is always in the lead. Amir, though sometimes only by a few steps, is always behind him. I found there to be some meaning behind this. It is an unarguable fact that Hassan is “advanced” in many ways. He is past the “filter of distortion faze” even as a child, he is forgiving in all aspects, and kind to a point that it is sickening. Amir on the other hand is nowhere near passing his filter of distortion phase. I thought that the fact that he is literally behind Hassan when the boys are running around was symbolic of how he is also behind Hassan mentally.

            The rape scene was portrayed exactly how I had initially imagined it in my head.  I think a lot of credit should be given to the child actor that played Hassan. The only thing that seemed to be off from the film and the book was Assef’s age. By the description given in the novel, I had thought of Assef as being of the same age as Amir and Hassan. In the film he seemed to be about two to four years older than them. The fact that he was older in the film did make the rape a lot more scarring on the audience, because a boy of that age should have known better (as should have someone their age too).  I think a lot of credit should be given to the child actor that played the role of Hassan. The way he portrayed Hassan after the rape was done marvelously. He had this sullen look on his face but still some sort of pride when he gave Amir the kite. The way he reacted so subtly to Amir asking what had happened, even though they both knew what happened was also done well.

            Though I was pleased with the majority of the film because it corresponded well with what was going on in the novel, I was extremely upset with the ending. Without sounding grotesque, I was upset that Sohrab’s suicide attempt was completely disregarded. I think that the suicide attempt really magnifies the fear that Sohrab felt towards the orphanage and it also explains so much of his sorrow once he got to America. By leaving it out, the director excluded what I thought to be one of the most important scenes in the entire novel. 

-Talia Akerman

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 

THE POST OF POSTS

Although all main ideas and important events from the story were taken in account in the movie, there were some things that were not added. Some things that were left out were details such as Sohrab’s suicide attempt, Hassan’s gypsy mother, the lip surgery for Hassan, the problems at the Embassy, and Soraya’s grief due to Sohrab. These details didn’t affect the storyline too much, but if they were there they would have made the movie much more emotional. To go into more detail, Sohrab who is the son of Hassan hardly says a word after he is rescued because he is so physically and mentally scarred because of Assef, the bully who used Sohrab as a sex toy. In the book, Sohrab tried to committed suicide by cutting his wrists after Amir told him Sohrab that he would have to go back to an orphanage. However, in the movie the topic of taking Sohrab back to an orphanage or even the scene where Sohrab is found half-dead in the tub was not shown or even talked about. The movie continues though with Amir and Soraya who decide to adopt Sohrab, who is also Amir’s nephew. When they adopt in the book it is more realistic because they have some problems with the Embassy and adoption papers. In the movie, it really skips the problems that Amir would face trying to bring a foreign boy into the US.  However, in the movie they just put Sohrab on a plane with Amir to head back from Afghanistan to America, with no issues. The filmmakers expect the audience to fill in the blank spots of the movie. Also the movie does not talk anything about Hassan’s mother. If someone in the audience had not read the book before watching the movie, that one scene in the movie would have been very confusing because no word is spoken about Hassan’s mother. In the book Hosseini tells the reader that Hassan’s mother was a gypsy and ran away after giving birth to Hassan, leaving Hassan’s father to raise him. This leads me to another omitted scene: in the book Hassan is hair-lipped and on his 12th birthday, Amir’s dad pays for Hassan to have surgery to get rid of the hair-lip. In the movie this is not mentioned or shown. However, even though some of these details were missed in the movie, it was still amazing and captured some of the emotional tragic that was present in the book. In conclusion, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hoissein and the movie produced by Marc Forester are both amazing. While the book had more detail and description, the movie brought the images alive and made it hard to accept the story, because it was so sad. All in all, the filmmakers were somewhat true to the book. 

Comparison of movie to the book

As in most cases, the book well exceeded the movie. It's difficult for a movie to capture the same emotions and feelings that a book can because a book allows one to see into the mind of the narrator. A book also allows for the imagination to paint a picture. The way I saw the characters from the book were nothing like the characters casted for the movie, except for Baba. The actor who played Baba looked like a strong and elegant individual but also had a bit of the "bear" quality which Amir expressed constantly in the book. I thought that that fear that Amir had towards his father was important to the story and not having included that in the movie did some damage on reflecting the relationship between Amir and his Baba. 

Assef was another character in the movie that looked NOTHING like I imagined. As a kid, I depicted him as a really tall and big dark skinned bully who towered over everyone else, but in the movie he was a scrawny white boy who didn't look very threatening at all. The movie didn't even include Assef using his brass knuckles which was a symbolic threat towards Amir and Hassan. The scene at Amir's birthday did not at all touch on the fear that Assef inflicted on others. In the book, Assef was so cruel that even his parents had a bit of fear towards him which let the readers know that this was a pure evil boy; the movie didn't even include Assef giving the book on Hitler to Amir! There was no way the movie made the viewer hate Assef as much the book did so Assef's inhumanity wasn't clearly shown. The resemblance of the young Assef to the older Assef in the Taliban wasn't clear either and honestly, the old Assef looked nothing like the younger one. The younger Assef was white skinned with black hair and the older Assef was much darker skinned with brown hair. In the book, Assef had blue eyes and blond hair which I believe was an important element because it showed how different he was and how alike he was to the Aryan race that Hitler wanted to create and Assef is basically viewed as the reincarnation of Hitler. 

What wasn't included in the movie that truly damaged the story was the exclusion of Baba buying surgery for Hassan. This was the factor in the story that showed how jealous Amir was of Hassan and how Baba seemed to have more loving care towards Hassan than anyone else. Instead, the movie had Baba buy Hassan a kite which wasn't as personal as the surgery. Based on the movie, one could tell that Amir had a bit of anger towards Hassan because he got all of Babas attention, but the book revealed the core of his hatred. 

I'm happy that I had never seen the movie before I read the book because I'm sure that the movie would have ruined the story for me. The book was overall so much more emotional and really grabbed me by the throat and made me feel everything the characters felt, whereas the movie was just a way to pass the time. 

The Book vs The Movie

      Watching the movie, The Kite Runner, after reading the book helped me visualize what the actual story might have looked like in real life. Even though I did not picture the characters or settings how they were portrayed in the movie, I think that the movie gave me a more realistic point of view. Seeing how terrible the political conditions were in the movie during the scenes where Amir returns to Afghanistan helped me understand how serious and dangerous the Taliban really are.
      The movie gave me a better understanding of the dangers of the Taliban and what the living conditions in Afghanistan were like rather than the characters true feelings and their emotions. While reading the book, Hosseini did a great job portraying Amirs emotions and how he felt as a child growing up striving to obtain his fathers attention, to later on to facing his fears in order to save Hassans son. I felt angry when Amir began to mistreat Hassan and actually felt sad when Amir lost his father and was close to losing Sohrab after his suicide attempt. While watching the movie, I could not relate to Amirs feelings. Without Amirs true feelings being told, I felt a lack of connection and was unable to relate to the depth of the story.
       Towards the end of the movie, Amir was able to bring back Sohrab to his home without a single problem. By skipping Sohrabs suicide attempt, I felt that a lot was left untold about Sohrabs past. After losing his parents and becoming a personal slave for the Taliban, you can not expect a little boy to just accept the fact that he was moving to a different country and place his trust in a new family. Sohrab went through a lot for a child his age, let alone for anyone at any age, so I believe that his suicidal act was very realistic. It is normal for him to be afraid of trusting someone new and staring a new life, especially when he missed his old one so badly. Because Sohrab was so afraid and barely speaking, I thought this scene told you a lot about his personality, and leaving it out of the movie left a lot of his feelings untold.
       The book obviously has a lot more detail than the movie. I think that the makers of the movie expect people to have read the book before watching the movie so they have an understanding of what is really going on. I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie. It really does amaze me how the author could create a bond between the reader and the character, and I was disappointed when I did not experience that bond while watching the movie. I still thought it was a great movie, but nothing compared to the book itself. If I had not read the book prior to watching the movie, I believe I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more than I did.

Kite Runner Movie vs Book

Personally, I almost always rather the movies from the books. This was actually a rare case and I was more content with the book than the movie. The movie missed a lot of scenes that were vital in my opinion and that was what made me lean more towards the book. I understand that some scenes have to be cut in order to make the movie within a reasonable amount of time for people to sit down and watch it, but the director made some mistakes in which scenes to leave ad which to take out and also made some same scenes with different details that gave me a different feel from the book. The movie was almost identical from the book except for the first scene up to where Rahim Khan’s “there is a way to be good again” comes into play and Amir gets on a flight to Pakistan. In the movie, Rahim does not tell Amir exactly what he wants him to do with Sohrab about bringing him to the orphanage with the made up Americans in Pakistan, it is just sort of implied that Amir must rescue him and adopt him. This is important because it is supposed to show how Amir is dubious about going to rescue the boy and how he does not even want to parent his nephew in the beginning. The movie also did not depict Farid accurately. The movie did not show how hostile Farid was towards Amir until he learned of his intentions, and the movie also did not show Amir and Farid staying at Farid’s brother’s house. That scence was important because it showed how much importance was placed on honor, as the father rather feed his guests than his children, and is also showed the children’s lack of care for technology, but gratefulness for gifts. The orphanage scene was a big part of the book and the fact that no one attacked the director made it seem like they did not care too much that children were getting sold to Assef, I believe that to be a mistake from the director. Once the “man with the sunglasses” enters the story, I also saw that the movie missed some important details that demonstrated the Taliban’s ridiculous rule such as the player not wearing shorts or how you weren’t allowed to cheer for the game, only for the Taliban. I also noticed later in the movie that Assef’s famous brass knuckles were never introduced. This doesn’t make that big of a difference but it gave Assef more of an intense fear. In the scence with Assef, the director changes that he doesn’t say “hows the old Babalu” but rather talks about Baba, and Assef did not tell the guards to let them go if he walked out of there alive in the movie. They also did not show Amir laughing while getting his beating, which was needed to correlate the meaning to Assef’s story of the kidney stones. The movie did not show Amir in the hospital or how Sohrab felt like a huge sinner, being the reason he ran away to the mosque. It was not a bad movie at all and I enjoyed watching it, but when it comes to detailed imagery and important factors that make those small differences, the book did a much better job.