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From the Page to the Screen – The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a 2003 novel by Khaled Hosseini. It was a bestseller that remains popular to this day due to its strong cultural depictions and a deeply moving story. I love this novel in spite of its flaws as it’s such an emotional, powerful read.

THE FILM ADAPTATION

The film was released in 2007, four years after the novel. It got solid, but far from great reviews. I consider it to be an underrated adaptation, one that was mostly faithful to the source material and effective in acting and score in particular.

PLOT

The movie follows the book very closely. It even improves upon the Taliban scenes as they felt more realistic in the film itself. However, it never felt as epic or sweeping as the book and the third act definitely felt rushed with the immigration scenes cut off for no good reason.

WINNER – BOOK

CHARACTERIZATION

The characters of Baba, Amir and Hassan are iconic from the novel and they are almost as good in the film adaptation. They all got solid arcs and the main conflicts are well executed. The movie worked in particular due to superb casting and excellent acting performances all around.

WINNER – TIE

EMOTION

Nothing could compare to the sheer emotional engagement of the original work. The final section almost made me cry how touching it was. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is suitably touching and effective, but just never as heartbreaking as the book.

WINNER – BOOK

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THEMES

The novel explored redemption and friendship deftly while also touching upon the issues that plague Afghan society, especially racism and religious fundamentalism. The movie does depict these issues, but only slightly, lacking the conviction of the source material.

WINNER – BOOK

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

Khaled Hosseini wrote the novel so forcefully – the narration is stellar and moving, the descriptions are excellent and the structure is superb. The film itself is solidly paced, very well shot and featuring a great score by Alberto Iglesias, but it failed to ignite in terms of directing and production design. It needed to have been more epic and cinematic.

WINNER – BOOK

BOOK 5: FILM 1

I really liked the film adaptation that we got. It’s not great as it’s not cinematic enough, but it’s faithful, very well performed by its competent cast and overall engaging. I wished for a more sweeping treatment of the source material, but what we have here is still one underrated movie that deserves more love from fans.