Maya's Movie vs Book Comparison

        After watching the movie and reading the book, I can decidedly say that I enjoyed the book more than the movie. I feel like Hosseini’s writing style and the descriptions he chose to incorporate were able to capture the characters’ emotions and the strain that most of the events in the novel caused better than the movie. I did not dislike the movie, but I feel like it lacks a certain something the book has. The first half of the movie, for the most part, stayed true to what happened in the book. However, the director chose to leave out a lot of major plot points during the second half. 

        First off, I think the director chose to cut what he did because it made Amir seem, in my opinion, like a more agreeable main character. In the book, he comes off as more self-centered and kind of spineless. The first time I noticed this was when he is shown at the orphanage looking for Sohrab. Instead of his driver becoming outraged by the director of the orphanage essentially selling children to the Taliban, Amir is the one who decides to speak out. This scene portrays Amir as someone with a strong moral compass who isn’t afraid to voice it; as anyone who has read the book knows, this usually is not the case with Amir. It also draws a parallel between him and Baba. Baba spoke out against the cruelty being shown to the woman in the van by the Russian soldier and Amir did the same for the orphans. 

        Also, there is never a point in the movie where Amir shows apprehension towards leaving Soraya and risking his safety in Afghanistan. When Amir ultimately travels to Pakistan to meet with Rahim Kahn, Kahn doesn’t mention an American couple that could lift all the responsibilities of taking care of Sohrab off of Amir’s shoulders. The movie shows Amir’s journey to retrieve Sohrab as something he is doing completely out of his own will and not because he feels obligated to save a blood related family member. 

        The only thing I have no idea as to why it was cut is the entire scene with Soraya’s infertility. I feel like that was such an integral part to Amir switching from feeling obligated to save Sohrab to actually wanting to go save him so that he and the woman he loves can parent a child together. It was a big plot point in the book but it was never visited once during the movie. 

        With respects to the actors, I feel that the actor who played Baba did the best job. His performance was truly convincing. I believe he did the best job of portraying his character the way he was in the book.