Kite Runner- The Movie

so this is going to be another rant/rave post.

a few months back i know i posted some review about the book, how it has made me stay up till late and ended up crying, moved, pondering over some scenes.

then i learned some news that it was to be made into a movie. well, i sort of had misgivings at first. it's a pretty emotional story with controversial themes dealing with human relationships and turmoils and a much more delicate social/political/racial issues. but i was excited nonetheless especially when i finally saw the trailer online which gave me enough reason to watch out for it.

anyway, a few nights ago i actually joined a Pex contest for free premier tickets. i know there has always been a lot of contests in the said forum but i just thought i'd try it out as it's actually The Kite Runner and all i did was copy/paste the answer of previous posters to the question "who is the author of the book Kite Runner?". how simple can that be. i even didn't take note where and when the preem was going to be.

so imagine my surprise when i got a message last night that i did bag the two tickets haha! that was almost midnight and i thought of "raffling" my extra ticket among my pex friends or maybe ask my cousin out when my college friend, Ron, popped out on ym. so i just asked him if he's free for the following day and said he is. he didn't even ask what the movie was all about hehe...

so there, earlier this afternoon, i left the office early to get my tickets in makati, where i almost got lost looking for their office. but that's another story altogether.

the venue was at SM Megamall, uhm, i've been so used to the cinemas at Gateway that i think the movie screen is now a bit smaller, haay. and we must be with the wrong crowd as most of them were rowdy and were even talking among themselves while we were silently sniffing. they must have gotten bored and didn't understand a thing *sigh* so enough of my reklamos haha, sorry!

so, finally, on with the film...

first of all, i believe it has a perfect cast, most especially the young Hassan. he's just really cute, not good looking but cute just the same. and he's a good actor for someone so young huh!

as the film progressed and i remember the scenes bit by bit, i suddenly wonder if they will ever show some delicate scenes and if they do i don't think i'd feel comfortable watching it. but then again it is still the main turning point of the story so they simply have to. how they are going to treat it cinematically ought to be a real challenge. but yes they did, along with all the other controversial parts.

i cringed, sniffed, felt revolted, moved to tears, got excited, all throughout the film.

(i realized i could't tell much details about it now as i dunno how to make spoiler tags here, and just the conscientious moviegoer that i am, i don't really dream of spoiling you even if some of you have actually read the book.)

and all i can say really is, it remains faithful to the book and most of the great scenes are shown in the movie. it may not be as detailed but most of the good parts are there. there is one aspect there which was a bit changed but i couldn't blame them as it turns out to be more exciting to watch onscreen.

and i enjoyed the kite flying scenes a lot! it was kinda hard to picture it based on the book, but the movie makes it really fun and exciting.( i have read though that the kids were holding balloons during the filming and was just edited during post-production hehe.)

the lightness and heady feeling of the kites hovering as the kids frantically run about gives the movie an over-all subtle play of emotions. we know and feel that there are some parts that are heavy and intense but how they are being presented makes them appear as some dark stains to an otherwise youthful and hopeful film.

and even if the movie, which was initially set in Kabul during its glory days, showed how it was ravished by the Russian invasion and eventually by the Talibans it still manages to depict a more optimistic and glorious ending for it's main characters which like the older Hassan wrote to the older Amir:

"I dream that my son will grow up to be a good person, a free person. I dream that someday you will return to revisit the land of our childhood. I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets again... and kites will fly in the skies! "