"The Kite Runner" (SD DVD)

Synopsis

In Afghanistan, young Amir (Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Mahmidzada) are best friends even though Hassan is the son of the servant who takes care of Amir's house.

One of their favorite activities is to compete with kites, where one flier tries to cut the string of the others. The competitors are teams of two, and of course, Amir and Hassan are a team. Hassan is the kite runner.

During the competition, Hassan is looking for a kite that has fallen to the ground in an alley, and a group of young thugs attack him and rape him because he won't give them the kite he found.

Because of the culture, Amir is forced to shun Hassan, so Hassan's father leaves the household and takes Hassan away.

A decade later, Amir (Abdalla) is living in America, and an old friend of Amir's father calls him and asks him to come back to the Middle East because he is very ill. When he arrives, he discovers a secret about Hassan that he never knew, and also confronts the man who raped Hassan as a boy.

Commentary

The film is based on the book by Khaled Hosseini, and it caused quite a stir in the Middle East because the people over there thought that the actor who played Hassan as a boy was actually raped. In any case, the movie is riveting and one of the most entertaining films I have seen in years. 

Technical

Unfortunately, this version was only SD and not Blu-ray, so the image is just adequate. The movie is so good, I anticipate it being released in high def at some point.

Extras

Just a few extras, including commentaries and some other things.