"The Kite Runner"

 

1) How does the filmmaker "frame" the story? What words, images, events appear in the beginning and at the end?

The filmmaker frames the story with the image of a kite fight and the words “for you, a thousand times over.” In the beginning of the film, it is Amir flying the kite and when he cuts someone else’s and asks Hassan to bring the kite back for him, Hassan says “for you a thousand times over.” In the end of the film, Amir is showing Sohrab, Hassan’s son, some of his fathers old tricks, and after cutting someone else’s kite he runs to get it, turns around and tells Sohrab, “For you a thousand times over.” The similarity between those scenes functions as a reminder of how dedicated Hassan was to Amir, and that after all those years, Amir is honoring Hassan and showing that same dedication to Hassan’s son. It is a way to be good again. A way to be forgiven for the jealousy he felt toward Hassan as a child, and for not standing up for his friend/brother when he witnessed the terrible rape.

2) Why include the terrible rape of a child? Is rape used in a metaphorical sense in the film as well?

I think the rape symbolized a sort of rape of Hassan and Amir's friendship. The rape took away Hassan's dignity and innocence, and Amir's loyalty. After this event, their friendship no longer became possible, as Amir was overwhelmed with guilt at the idea of having witnessed the scene but not having done anything about it. He tries desperately to get rid of Hassan by displaying him as a thief. The rape could also be a symbol for the abuse of power, as the story is set during the time of the rise of the tyrannical Taliban government. The symbolism becomes yet stronger when we discover the Assef himself, Hassan's rapist, becomes a Taliban leader, and that he is doing the same aweful act to Hassan’s son, Sohrab.

3) Compare Amir and Hassan. What is Amir's problem? What are Hassan's strengths? Are they friends?

Amir and Hassan are both extremely different, but they both grow up together, to be great friends, until the terrible rape of Hassan. They both differ in social status. Amir is born into a privileged Pashtun family, and his mother died at childbirth. He is very literate and loves to write and read, to his father's deception, who thinks Amir is weak and lacks the qualities of a real man. Amir wants more than anything, his father's approval and understanding, and therefore partly resents Hassan for the attention Amir's father gives him. Hassan on the other hand is a poor Hazara, a minority class in Afghanistan at the time. He is a servant in Amir's home, and his fiercely loyal companion. Hassan is athletic and although illiterate, he is extremely intelligent. His loyalty is so strong that he fails to realize when Amir deceives him. He would do anything for Amir, his best friend.

4) What are Assef's issues? Did you expect him to return at the end of the film?

Assef is a bully that also comes from a wealthy family. He has a sadistic and fascist streak that he shows in the rape of the young Hassan, and further on in the rape of sohrab. Assef is thirsty for power and gets a thrill out of imposing himself on others. I did not expect him to return at the end of the film but I think that the fact that he does return, and that he is doing the same thing to Sohrab as he did to his father years ago when he was just a young boy, underlines the

5) What do you make of the relationship between Baba and Amir? Rahim Khan and Amir?

Baba and Amir have a difficult relationship. Baba expects Amir to be manly and more like him. At the beginning of the film he expresses his concerns about the boy because he is incapable of standing up for himself and more than once he has witnessed Hassan having to defend him from the bullies. Amir one day expresses his own concern to Rahim Khan. He thinks that his father Baba hates him for having "killed" his mother. Later in the film, when Amir graduates from college, the misunderstandings and false expectations between Baba and Amir are once again portrayed when Baba insists on Amir becoming a doctor. Amir has a gift for writing and is discomforted by Baba’s unwillingness to understand his desires and motivations. Rahim Khan acts as Amir's protector, someone the boy can confide in and trust. Someone he can also look up to. He encourages Amir in his writing and steps in several times when the misunderstandings between Amir and his father are creating tensions. The companionship between Amir and Rahim shows when Amir dedicates his book to the man, and writes “To Rahim Jan, who listened to my stories before I knew how to write.”

6) According to Baba, there is only one sin. What is it? What is ironic about this?

According to Baba, there is only one sin, and that is stealing. He says that every bad act that exists results from a form of stealing. When you kill, you are stealing a father from a child or a man from his wife, and when you lie, you are robbing someone of the truth. This is ironic because he himself lied to his two son’s about the nature of their relation. He never told Hassan or Amir that Hassan was his son that he had from a relationship with one of his servants, and they therefore never knew that they were brothers, until it was too late, and Hassan had passed.

7) What do Amir and Soraya have in common?

They are both Afghan and they both fled their countries when they were young because of the war, ending up being raised in America. They both also have or had somewhat strained relationships with their fathers. Soraya brought shame upon her family’s name when she ran away with an Afghan man at the age of 18. Her family found her and they had to move to California, creating huge conflict with her father, with whom she didn’t speak to for a very long time.

8) List the steps in Amir's redemption. What does he do to be good again?

To be good again, Amir goes to Kabul to find Hassan’s son Sohrab. He finds him in the hands of Assef, who has made the boy his slave. For the first time, Amir shows a sign of standing up for someone else and insists on leaving the Taliban’s house with Sohrab. Assef goes to beating him and reduces him to a helpless state until Sorhab uses his slingshot abilities to defeat Assef and allow them to make a run for their lives. Towards the ned of the movie, Amir once again stands up for the boy in front of his own father in law, when the general questions the necessity of having a Hazara boy live with his daughter, and the reputations this will give them among their neighbors.

9) What is the point of the scene with Amir, Assef and Sohrab toward the end of the film?

The scene shows the abus of power of the talibans at the time as Assef has clearly made of Sohrab his slave. It also shows the similarity between Hassan and Sorhab, when the young boy brandishes his slingshot against Assef and shoots him in the eye. Just like his gfather, Sohrab is a brave and dedicated person, and not afraid to stand up for his friends.

10) How do the following function symbolically: Kite flying, fighting, running; Sohrab's name; pomegranates and the pomegranate tree?

I think that the kite flying in the movie symbolizes friendship and companionship… Hassan and Amir share a moment of friendship when they fly their kites together. It is also through kite flying that Amir first makes his father truly proud. And Amir and Sorhab make a connection and establish their first bond whilst flying their first kite together. The kite connects Hassan, Sohrab and Amir together. I think the fighting and the running represent the unstable state of the country at the time, politically and economically. There is fighting going on in the streets between the children, just as there is fighting going on, on a larger scale between countries. The pomegranates also have a symbolic meaning… Hassan and Amir engrave their names on a pomegranate tree, Hassan squashes a pomegranate on his forehead when Amir asks him to hit him, and pomegranates fall from a truck as Amir is reading Hassan’s letter. In Iran and Persia, pomegranates take on a symbolism of love and fertility, as well as patriotism in death for the country. The pomegranates could therefore symbolize the true relationship between Hassan and Amir, they are brothers, and Hassan’s dedication for Amir.