It’s been a couple of years since I read the book, so I only had a skeletal recollection of its structure.  From my memory, David Benioff’s screenplay and Marc Forster’s direction are very true, though of course simplified into a two-hour timeline.  In this season of self-indulgent films nearing the 3-hour mark, here’s one film I would have loved to see ten minutes more of...

A magnificent score by Alberto Iglesias, solid performances by Khalid Abdalla and the supporting cast, and a phenomenal performance by Homayoun Ershadi (Baba) that was sadly overlooked in this week’s Oscar nominations.  The cinematography is jaw-dropping.  When Amir &Hassan launch their kite the first time - and it sails up into the sky amongst the dozens of other kites - the camera tracking every inch of the way.  Breathtaking!  Cheers also to the art department, who succeeded beautifully in the task of making China look like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I found, oddly, that I enjoyed the movie more than the book.  Which isn’t to say the movie is *better*...  Perhaps because I’ve never visited the middle east, or because my upbringing in a 99% white suburb in the south, I found the characters in the film easier to identify with.  Reading the book, each character was but an abstract clothed constantly in “Afghani.”  Rahim Khan was a “principled Afghani man;” Baba was a “stubborn and strong Afghani man;” Hassan was a “devoted Afghani boy.”  Perhaps that sounds terribly racist, but I truly loved each of them, and sympathized, but there was a barrier--and each had a distinct voice in my head as I read.  I wasn’t even aware of it when I read the book; only after seeing the film did I put my finger on it.  Because the film removed my lack of understanding for this distant culture; it gave me a face, a tone of voice, eyes for each of these characters, clothes from the 80s that were recognizable to me, a room that they stood and talked in that I knew...

These things enriched my personal experience of the film.  Forster’s hand is light and unobtrusive, which is so refreshing in the midst of everything else in theaters right now.  He does not manipulate or insult the viewer’s intelligence; he simply tells the story.  And a great story it is.