Title: Kite Runner
Genre: Drama
Director: Marc Forster (2007)
Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Shaun Toub
When (Finally) The Friendship Finds Its Meaning
After watching this movie, I conclude that the message of friendship is very strong here. That message appears in a beautiful frame of compassion, brotherhood, suffering, and (tragically) is also a betrayal.
Let's start from the beginning. There are two small children. They are Hassan and Amir who are already friends since childhood. Hasan is very protective of Amir who is the son of his employer. Hasan does it very, very sincere. Not simply because he must obey the will of his master but because friendship is a flame. Hasan’s sincerity is clearly depicted when he refuses to provide a kite which he gets from his pursuit for the bad boy as a medium of exchange so that he couldn’t be persecuted. This happened after the kite festival. Hasan declines by reason of the kite for Amir. Sincerity doesn’t budge despite a bad boy asked, "Are you sure, Amir will be doing the same thing for you?" (They are, brats, just think how could Hasan be so loyal to protect Amir, the master). Hasan, who always guess exactly where the kite will fall off, have paid dearly. For only Amir, he is willing to accept bad treatment from these naughty children.
A background in this drama genre movie is a war conflict that is packed quite nicely by showing how the condition of Kabul and the Taliban rulers in power. However, I do not want to discuss about this. In a film that does not impress in a rush, Hassan and Amir's friendship is more interesting and more knocking on the door of my humanity when watching. I'm also more curious about the ending of this film to discover why Amir betrayed the kite runner, Hasan.
Amir who is so rich put Hasan in the situation by purpose that Hasan could be considered stealing his property, a watch. Amir hopes, his father will evict Hasan from their home. Although Amir’s father refuses to expel Hasan, he and his father remain away from their home.
The incident doesn’t make their friendship finished up here. Not long after the incident, Amir and his father move to America. In this country, Amir who has a hobby of writing since childhood manage to publish his novel. He is also married to the daughter of a ex general. Then, Amir receives word from his father's friend, Rahim Khan, that Hassan was dead. Hasan leaves a message for Amir to take care of his son, Sohrab. Besides that, from Rahim Khan, Amir also kno if Hasan is the son of his father from his relationship with Hasan’s mother. This is where the hand of friendship as well as humanism Amir tested.
Although the decision to take and care for orphans is not as smooth as toll roads, Amir eventually goes to Kabul in Afghanistan. Then, to get Hasan, Amir has to deal with the Taliban rulers, who was then in power. This is where history repeats. As Hasan was defending and protecting the Amir as a child, Amir is now struggling between life and death for Sohrab. On the sidelines of the event, it shows how Sohrab can help Amir with the slingshot, the exact same way with what is done when Hasan helped Amir in the midst of disorder naughty children long time ago. This episode is very touching at the same time make me feel sad to see Amir's black and blue hit by the ruler.
Sweet goodness fruit of Hasan can be felt by Sohrab. Finally, Amir succeeds in bringing Sohrab to America and takes care of him like his own biological child. He also is defending Sohrab that insulted by his own father in law who feel that they come from respected groups. The father of his wife is considered Sohrab by one eye because he is a Hazara, a general term for minorities in Afghanistan, comes from the Afghan border region between Russia and China, where physically they look more like North China.
That's it. Finally, Amir is replacing Hasan become a kite runner for Sohrab as Hasan did to Amir years ago. True friendship is the fabric of a fraternity is very touching and nicely presented by the director. The tale concludes with a beautiful ending, when the friendship (finally) sees its meaning. (Ratu Masrana)