In this case, I felt that I may well not have got the nuances had I not read the book. When watching a film soon after reading the book, I find it can be quite hard to know how well the story is being told. Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada as Hassan and Zekeria Ebrahimi as young Amir In fact, the casting in general is fine – no performance stood out for me as particularly great, but equally none were bad, so it has the feeling of a true ensemble piece rather than a star vehicle. The two young child actors who play Amir and Hassan are very good, both managing to give their performances a feeling of naturalness. Personally, I’m not keen on watching subtitled foreign language films, but I do think the decision makes sense in this film – it would have felt very false if the boys were speaking English in the Kabul sections of the film. The book is written in English, but the film varies the language depending on location, so that much of it is subtitled. You can read the full book review by clicking here.įor the most part, the film is a faithful rendering of the book with all the most important plot points (bar one, which I’ll come to later) and lines of dialogue included. ![]() Many years later, as Amir returns to Kabul from his new home in America, his mission to put right some of the things left unresolved from his childhood mirrors the question of whether this broken country can ever find resolutions to its bitter divisions. One day, during a kite-fighting competition, something will happen that will drive these friends apart, in a foreshadowing of the wars that will soon break the country apart. But, more importantly in an Afghanistan divided along lines of class and religion, Amir is a Pashtun Sunni, part of the ruling class, while Hassan is a Hazara Shi’a – a group reviled and mocked. Hassan acts as Amir’s servant as well as his friend. The narrator, Amir, is the son of a rich man, whom he calls Baba, and Hassan is the son of Baba’s servant, Ali. Though in some ways they are best friends, they are not equal. Two young boys grow up side by side in Kabul in the 1970s.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |