Amir (Khalid Abdalla) learns a secret about his father after his father (Baba) is dead. Basically, even the best people are hypocrites. They believe one thing and do another. Baba wasn't a fanatic, but the film also shows how even the "most religious" people will base their beliefs on "God's Word," and then follow or enforce those beliefs selectively.
I thought about this during the "halftime show" that Amir watches as an adult. The Taliban bring out a couple found guilty of adultery. The penalty, the leader says, is death by stoning. It's the punishment God requires. And so, they carry out the punishment on the woman, stoning her to death. The man is right there next to her, but we never see them carry out the punishment on him. I'm guessing they let him live. Maybe they thought it was punishment enough being brought out in front of the crowd and shamed (not to mention having his lover killed without being able to do anything about it).
It's not the first time Amir has seen someone "punished." When he was a child, his friend (and family servant) is brutally sexually assaulted by three older bullies. It seems like such a weird "punishment" for the bullies to use against a smaller boy from another "tribe." The movie never explains or gets into the practice of "bacha bazi," and as far I recall, neither does the book, but apparently the abuse of boys has a long history in Afghanistan, and in fact, Amir will return to Afghanistan to save the boy who he has now learned is the son of his childhood friend -- the childhood friend, he has just learned, was his half-brother.
That childhood friendship had been destroyed because Amir was witness to the sexual attack on his friend and could not do anything to stop it. He lashes out at his friend, blaming his friend for the cowardice he refuses to own. Later as an adult, this same bully, now a member of the Taliban, "owns" his nephew. Now the bully beats the shit out of Amir, and it's only his nephew's slingshot that saves him, but at least Amir was willing to take the beating, even if he was otherwise powerless to do anything else. That seems to be the lesson. Don't allow bad things to happen to others simply with the hope that you can avoid them happening to you. Even if you can't do anything to stop them, don't watch the bad things happen, don't blame the victims, and don't just move away and ignore what's going on in "other parts" of the world.
Amir eventually learns to be a man. We can't expect him to be perfect. As a kid, maybe he did what many of us would have done in his place, which is to say, nothing. Or worse, he wants to forget that he did nothing, and he wants to blame the victims and have them removed from his life.
As an adult, however, he starts to fight back. First, he fights Baba for his right to pursue a career as a fiction writer. Then, he stands up to the General for the hand of the woman he wants to marry. He doesn't "judge" her for committing adultery, and he fulfills a family obligation by adopting his nephew.
Not covered in the film, of course, but when Amir brings the boy back to the United States, the movie never goes into the legality of just bringing the boy back. What's the adoption process? What's the immigration process? It wouldn't be very cinematic, but did Amir complete the paperwork for his nephew's asylum? Or is this the kind of boy that may not have legal status in the United States, and if we checked in on the story today, is this the kind of boy that ICE would detain and send back to Afghanistan?
By the way, I'm sorry for anyone "forced" to watch a movie in school after being "forced" to read the book. Teachers think they're doing something nice for students by showing the movie, but how many times have I read a student review that says "forced to watch in class. Boring."
No, the story isn't boring. But when we're forced to do anything, we're just not going to like it. Human nature. Go back and re-watch the movie when you feel like you want to. I bet your perspective will have changed.
Likewise, no, the film isn't going to cover everything the book does. Duh. Treat the film separately. Don't compare the experience of reading a book and watching a movie. Both can be "great, and it's not fair to compare one with the other. My review is solely for the film. Yes, I have read the book, and it is excellent. The film, as a standalone story, also does an excellent job.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
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