Comparison between Kite Runner novel and movie

After reading a novel, I usually refrain from watching any kind of movie that relates to the book because it tends to alter my perception of the characters. I enjoy being given the freedom to imagine my own characters based on their descriptions in the novel and I feel that watching the movie restricted this freedom. After reading The Kite Runner, it was easy to find flaws in Hollywood’s variation of the novel. The transition between scenes in the movie was noticeably “choppy” because the producers failed to include important detail. Kamal’s character never appeared in the movie. Although he was one of the supporting characters in the novel, I felt that his role was important since he was also a victim of sexual abuse. Surprisingly enough, I felt that there was more emotion depicted in the novel than in the movie. The book provided a firsthand account of everything Amir was feeling during any given scene and the movie failed to recreate his anxiety, feelings of abandonment and envy towards Hassan. Although the movie failed to provide us with some of the vivid details that appeared in the novel, reading the novel before watching the movie helped me gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the characters, specifically Amir and Rahim Kahn and Amir and Sohrab.

I thought Hollywood did a good job in recreating some of the scenes of Assef’s sexual abuse that would otherwise be considered too graphic. Instead of filming the actual rape scene, Hollywood hinted towards it, giving the audience an understanding of what happened. There were scenes from the novel that were excluded from the movie, such as Sohrab’s suicide attempt, when Amir was admitted into the hospital after his fight with Assef, and the difficulty in bring Sohrab to America. The exclusion of these important scenes are what led me to believe that the transitions were “choppy”. I think Sohrab’s suicide attempt was one of the most important scenes in the novel because it shows how much a little kid could hate an orphanage and how badly he could have been treated. No kid at the age of around 11 and that lack of maturity would consider suicide. I felt that his actions were overdramatized. Not only does this scene show how Sohrab is, but it also shows the corruptness and cruelty of Afghanistan.

My preconceived idea of the physical descriptions of the characters was morphed completely by Hollywood, specifically Assef and Baba. In the novel, Assef was depicted as a blonde hair, blue-eyed boy, however, in the movie he was shown as a dark-skinned dark brown haired man. The Assef that appeared as a child was not the Assef that appeared as a man. The actors were noticeably different, in fact, I did not realize it was Assef until Amir voiced it in the movie. I imagined Baba to be a more plump-looking man with a stern face and voice, however, the Baba that appeared in the movie was skinnier and “softer-looking”.