Plot
In San Francisco in 2000, Afghan-American writer Amir Qadiri and his wife Soraya watch children flying kites. Arriving home, Amir receives a call from his father's old friend and business associate, Rahim Khan, now in Peshawar, Pakistan.
In Kabul in 1978, 10-year-old Amir is the son of a wealthy Pashtun philanthropist and iconoclast, known locally as Agha Sahib, whom Amir calls "Baba". His best friend, Hassan, is the son of Baba's long-time servant, Ali, a Hazara. Amir does kite fighting, and Hassan is his spool-holder and "kite runner", who can accurately predict where loose kites will land, and has deadly aim with a slingshot. On Hassan's birthday, Amir gifts Hassan a US-made slingshot.
In a kite-fighting contest, Amir breaks his father's record of 14 "kills", and Hassan runs after the last defeated kite. Amir finds Hassan trapped in a dead-end by Assef and his gang. Assef demands Amir's kite but Hassan refuses, so they beat and rape him.
Amir watches, too afraid to intervene. Wracked with guilt, he then avoids Hassan. When Ali and Baba ask Amir about Hassan's strange behavior, he feigns ignorance. Amir asks Baba if he would ever replace Ali and Hassan and is angrily rebuked.
Upset by the incident, Amir can't enjoy his 11th birthday party. The next day, he makes it look as if Hassan stole his birthday wristwatch and Hassan accepts the blame. Although Baba quickly forgives him, Ali feels dishonored, and immediately quits, to Baba's distress.
In June 1979, when the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, Baba and Amir flee to Pakistan inside an oil truck, with Rahim being left to care for the house.
In 1988, Baba is running a service station in Fremont, California, and operates a stall at a weekly flea market. Amir, who has earned a degree at the local community college, works with Baba. One day, at the market, Baba introduces him to General Taheri, a Pashtun and former Afghan army officer. When Amir sees Taheri's daughter, Soraya, he's interested, and gives her a story he has written, but the General confiscates it.
Soon after, Baba is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Amir requests he ask General Taheri for Soraya's hand in marriage, which Baba does. During a stroll, Soraya tells Amir that the Taheris had to move from Virginia, due to the gossip after she had run off to live with a Pashtun man. Her father retrieved her, and they moved to California. Amir is shocked, but still pledges his love, and they marry. Baba dies soon afterward.
In 2000, Rahim convinces Amir to visit him in Pakistan to make amends. In Peshawar, a dying Rahim tells Amir that he had asked Hassan to return, which he did, with his wife and son, Sohrab. Later, Rahim had fled to Pakistan leaving the house to Hassan and his family. After the civil war, the Taliban had taken power and they demanded Hassan vacate the house. He refused, so they executed him and his wife, and Sohrab was taken to an orphanage.
Rahim urges Amir to return to Kabul to find Sohrab and give him a letter written by Hassan, who had taught himself to read and write. Amir declines until Rahim reveals that Amir and Hassan are half-brothers: Hassan was the result of an affair between Amir's father and Ali's wife.
Amir, wearing a false beard to conform with the strictures of the Taliban, looks for Sohrab in a Kabul orphanage, but learns he had been purchased by a Taliban official. Arranging an appointment at the official's house, he is surprised to find that his assistant is Assef, who recognizes Amir. Assef introduces Sohrab as his dance boy and beats Amir for asking to take Sohrab to America. Sohrab pulls out Hassan's slingshot and shoots Assef in the eye. Sohrab and the injured Amir flee to Peshawar, where they discover Rahim has died, leaving a letter for Amir.
In San Francisco, Amir and Soraya welcome Sohrab into their home. Amir teaches Sohrab to fly kites and volunteers to be Sohrab's "runner". As Amir runs off to fetch a defeated kite, he repeats to Sohrab what Hassan had said to him when they were boys: "For you, a thousand times over."
Controversy
Though the child actors enjoyed making the film, they and their families expressed worries about their situation after the film's release. Regarding one scene, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (young Hassan) said, "I want to continue making films and be an actor but the rape scene upset me because my friends will watch it and I won't be able to go outside any more. They will think I was raped." [6] The scene was depicted in a less harrowing manner than originally planned; it contained no nudity, and the sexual aspect of the attack was suggested only very briefly at the end of the scene (also, a body double was used). [13] There were also fears of intertribal reprisals, as the character Hassan was a Hazara and the boys who bullied and raped him were Pashtun. [14]
The government of Afghanistan at the time, led by President Hamid Karzai, decided to ban the film from theaters and DVD shops, both because of the rape scene and the ethnic tensions. The deputy Information and Culture minister said: "It showed the ethnic groups of Afghanistan in a bad light. We respect freedom of speech, we support freedom of speech, but unfortunately we have difficulties in Afghan society, and if this film is shown in the cinemas, it is humiliating for one of our ethnic groups." [5] [15]
For their work on the movie, Zekeria Ebrahimi (young Amir) and Mahmoodzada were initially paid $17,500 (£9,000) each, and Ali Danish $13,700 (£7,000). Arguments were later made that the boys were underpaid. [6] Additionally, Ebrahimi has said, "We want to study in the United States. It's a modern country and more safe than here in Kabul. If I became rich here I would be worried about security. It's dangerous to have money because of the kidnapping." [6] Paramount relocated the two child actors, as well M. Ali Danish Bakhtyari (Sohrab) and another child actor with a minor role as Omar, to the United Arab Emirates. [16] The studio reportedly accepted responsibility for the boys' living expenses until they reached adulthood, a cost some estimated at up to $500,000. [17]
After four months in Dubai, Ebrahimi and his aunt returned to Kabul in March 2008. After receiving threats on his life, Ebrahimi was forced to remain indoors and be home-schooled by an uncle. He has since claimed that he wishes he had never appeared in the movie. [18] Mahmoodzada stayed in Dubai for two years but returned to Kabul because his other family members could not get a visa to join him. Back home, he was continuously targeted by both the Hazara Shia's (for portraying them as a weak community) and by Pashtun Sunni (for portraying them as bad and cruel). The repeated humiliation resulted in Mahmoodzada—with the help of human smugglers—moving to Sweden; as of 2017, he was living in Borlänge. [19]
