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Khaled Hosseini’s best selling-book, The Kite Runner tells the story of Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of Amir, a rich businessman’s son, and Hassan, his servant and friend.

Unsubtle, and told in broad strokes, The Kite Runner nonetheless manages to convey the decline of that country under the Soviet occupation and its savage rebirth under the Taliban after decades of civil war.

The principle story concerns the relationship between Amir and Hassan.  Although Amir is portrayed to be a good boy, he is often mean-spirited and uses his position of privilege and his educated wit to mock and challenge the doting Hassan. However, even through this Hassan loves Amir and would do anything for him.

Hassan and his father Ali live in a tiny hut adjoining the opulent home of Amir and his father, Baba.  Baba is a huge bear of a man (said to have wrestled a bear once himself) with a thick black beard and untamed hair.

Amir wants nothing but to impress his father and win his love – at all costs. He gets the opportunity when he wins a prestigious kite tournament, but that victory comes at a grave cost to Hassan and a deep betrayal by Amir.

Years later, after fleeing to America and becoming a successful author, Amir receives a call from his father’s closest friend Rahim Kahn, offering Amir the chance for redemption and a way to be good again.

That is how both the novel and Marc Forster’s 2007 film, The Kite Runner begin, but sadly they tell altogether different stories.

The Kite Runner, the movie, seems like a rushed summary of the story of the book, told by a harried and forgetful storyteller from fragments he has managed to eavesdrop.  However good the storyteller and no matter how well he tells the story, he seems to have missed the essence of the story at hand.

In distilling the novel into its motion picture form Marc Forster somehow leaves the heart of the story, that of Afghanistan and its decline on the cutting room floor.  Although he ticks all the right boxes: pre-war Afghanistan is shown in rich warm tones, the streets of Kabul frantic with activity; post-war Kabul is desolate and barren, bombed out and a shadow of its former self.  From Khaled Hosseini’s writing, it is apparent that he has a deep love for the country and the loving description of the customs and locations of his, and of course Amir and Hassan’s youth are a highlight of the book. Sadly Marc Forster is unable to channel this completely.

It is understandable that when adapting a book to film changes occur and artistic license is taken.  However, certain changes seem unnecessary, or seem to pander to the intended, western audience.  One such instance is the portrayal of the principal antagonist Assef.  In the book Assef is a half-Afghan, half-German boy taken in by the philosophies of Adolph Hitler.  He later grows up to revel in the Taliban’s perversion of Islam and the cruelty and freedom he has to kill and destroy.  The film overlooks his back story, and marginalizes the character, watering him down to be just a nationalist and fanatic.

Baba, Amir’s father also does not escape the attention of the filmmakers altering gaze.  Instead of a giant of a man we are treated to a suave playboy, tall, slender with a trimmed beard and short-combed hair. However, even though he is severely sidelined in the film, he still manages to be the most interesting character.  His strength and conviction are maintained and the portrayal of Baba by Homayoun Ershadi manages to steal every scene he is in.

Much like the rest of the story, Amir and Hassan’s friendship does not escape some transformation.  However, in this case I think the films depiction seems to be slightly better.  I hated the novel’s Amir.  The character spends so much of the earlier chapters so jealous of Hassan, and torments him and challenges him where he can.  It is made clear that Hassan is the superior person and that Amir is just a spoiled brat in every way, and later a coward. His self-loathing after the tragedy also seems insincere and forced.

But it is in the depiction of Afghanistan where Marc Forster’s Kite Runner differs so much from Khaled Hosseini’s.  Instead of telling the story of Afghanistan through the eyes of, the children, he tells the story of Amir, using Afghanistan as a backdrop, a magnificent and tragic prop.

That is not to say that The Kite Runner is not a good film, because it is and it tells a beautiful story of friendship and devotion.  Some of the scenes are beautifully done; the depiction of the kite tournament is especially breathtaking.  But the story of Afghanistan cannot be told by a Swiss filmmaker, and in a way it cannot be adequately told by Khaled Hosseini.  In as much, as I could not tell the story of South Africa, my story, from a position of privilege, would never really be the truth.