Ciara's Movie vs Book

As usual, I was much more captured by the book than the movie.  In order to keep the movie concise, the director chose to eliminate certain crucial scenes that were present in the book; however, I believe the omission took away from the vitality of the story.

Most importantly, the movie was not able to convey Amir's true feelings because, while the book was written in first person, the movie was more of a broad scope of the entire situation.  As a viewer (as opposed to being a reader), I was not able to form a personal connection with the characters as easily, which left me feeling slighted. My relationship with Amir from start to finish was tumultuous while reading the book, and as he grew throughout the story, my view of him developed as well.   I expected the same connection going into the movie, but I was foolish to think so; I find that words are able to evoke a kind of emotion that visuals are incapable of invoking.

As for the deleted scenes I understand there are  boundaries in terms of the film’s length, but I feel like many of the scenes removed were imperative for moving the plot forward effectively. A director’s goal should be to trim the story line of the book without drawing from the power of the novels message. Personally, I think that the director failed to do so.

In the book I had a hard time listening to Amir's thoughts because he is an anti existential antagonist; he often cowardly, selfish, and cruel.  However as the book progressed I came to respect Amir for the way he handled his future. The movie did not allow for this development of perspective; though the does does portray Amir as a cruel child, the director makes the Adult Amir seem so just and brave, even though this was not so in the novel.  In the movie, when Amir goes to the orphanage with Farid, it is Amir rather than Farid who gets blows up on the orphanage owner.  Furthermore, in the movie, Amir decides he is going to take Sohrab home with him from the moment he hears of his existence; in the book, he intends on bringing him to an orphanage run by Americans before he finds out the orphanage doesn’t exist.  I think the fact that Amir’s crippling guilt extends into his adult life shows how deeply rooted this guilt really is, and the effect that day all those years ago had on the rest of his life.  The director’s choice to make the adult Amir seems so brave and willing to face his demons made Amir’s decision to return to Afghanistan and to take Sohrab home seem so easy; anyone who read the book would know this was not the case.

Overall, I thought the movie was interesting because it was nice to put a face to the characters I came to know so well; however, I would’ve liked to see what a more renowned director could’ve done with this movie because it was missing the powerful emotional depth that I loved so much about the book.