watch stranger than fiction director marc forster the kite runner be the cinematic equivalent of eat your vegetable because this art house epic rat pg 13 be good for your movie go diet . no and this isn not the kind of movie that i like to slouch on the couch and eyeball at the end of a tough day . the kite runner isn not your typical mainstream movie design to entertain you and make you forget about your trouble . first and no celebrity star appear in it . second and nothing be cut and dry and black or white and or so outlandish that you do not believe an image that you see . third and the kite runner lapse into subtitle when the character occasionally speak in their native tongue . fourth and forster film isn not a romantic trifle about boy want girl and boy loses girl and and then boy win girl back . fifth and this foreign language film may make you feel uncomfortable and challenge your assumption about life and friendship and and survival . the chief theme here be cowardice and redemption . the protagonist commit a cowardly offense in the first half of the action that he must atone for at the cost of his own personal safety and integrity . right and the kite runner be about redeem oneself for the sin of the past . be talk about personal accountability and so do not rent or buy this wonderful movie for a boy night out celebration or something to take the bad taste of the day out of your system . base on khaled hosseini bestselling novel and this culturally enlighten melodrama about right and down initially look like one of those light hearted friendship movie about adolescent in the vein of the adventure of tom sawyer and the sandlot . about a half hour into it 127 minute and this escapade about two youngster who fly kite in afghanistan turn dark and unsavory . nevertheless and if you can handle the remain hour of the plot and you will emerge gratified and relieve and and perhaps even entertain . the kite runner open in san francisco in the year 2000 a our protagonist and afghan émigré amir jan ( khalid abdalla of united 93 ) and his wife soraya ( atossa leoni of the florist ) receive two box of published copy of amir first novel . no sooner have amir have a chance to bask in his triumph of a life time a a storyteller than the phone jar him from his reverie and he be draw reluctantly back into a past that be best left forgotten for him . rahim khan ( shaun toub of the nativity story ) call amir from pakistan to make a request . rahim be a servant in amir household back in the 1970s when amir live with his wealthy pashtun merchant father baba ( homayoun ershadi of a taste of cherry ) in afghanistan before the soviet invasion . you have one more chance to be good and rahim informs amir without sugar coat his request . basically and rahim want amir to fly to pakistan and then enter war torn afghanistan and rescue rahim young grandson sohrab ( ali danish bakhty ari ) who be be hold a prisoner against his will a a sex slave for assef ( newcomer abdul salam yusoufzai ) a cruel taliban chieftain and amir once dread adversary . the kite runner shift from san francisco in 2000 to an extended flashback set in kabul in 1978 when life be idyllic . twelve year old amir ( zekiria ebrahimi ) and the son of his father servant and hassan ( ahmad khan mahmoodzada ) love to watch movie and such a john sturges western the magnificent seven and when they aren not fly kite . incidentally and this be kite fly like you have never see kite fly . not only do the kid fly them and but they also compete with other kid to see who can cut the string of another kid kite . the kite fighting flight scene generate the same kind of excitement that the dog fight scene have in tony scott top gun . hassan be amir best friend but unlike amir and hassan belongs to the revile hazara minority . early and young amir and hassan have a confrontation with young assef ( elham ehsas ) and his two flunky . assef be about to beat them up and but hassan pull out his slingshot and threaten to use it on assef . assef have no choice but to back down . meanwhile and amir be prepare to suffer the hand fate have deal him . amir father baba lament his son lack of spine and fear that he will grow up half of a man because he be a coward and unlike the plucky little hassan who bail amir out of predicament . anyway and amir and hassan emerge from the showdown with assef without a scratch . later and after amir set a new record with his kite fly and fight skill and hassan run after a kite to claim it . hassan be the eponymous character refer to in the title . hassan claim the fallen kite but he find himself at the mercy of assef and his two minion . assef let hassan keep the kite and but his minion pin hassan spread eagle and belly down in an alley while assef sodomize the youth . bad and a traumatized amir watch the assault from nearby but lack the courage to intervene on behalf of his friend who would have intervene for him . aside from the extraordinary aerial scene with the kite and the kite runner be down to earth and straight forward stuff . when amir return to afghanistan to rescue sohrab and he masquerade a a taliban fighter but he doesn not carry a firearm . the rescue scene in the kite runner be rather like the escape scene from the midnight express . while forster doesn not explore the local politics or plunge u into the ethnic and cultural issue at stake here . indeed and troy scenarist david benioff have to eliminate some part of the book and the racial and ethnic prejudice aren not clearly delineate so you have to accept some thing on faith . forster lensed the film in nearly china to give it an authentic look . forster deserve credit for make this two hour plus epic fascinating . the performance and especially by the child and stand out for their believability . the kite runner be a film that you would not easily forget .