Article: Timing trips 'Kite Runner' ; Seems rushed, oversimplified

"The Kite Runner" is about an author who tries to work through childhood sins and find forgiveness among words on the page. The film, a story of friendship and family, guilt and redemption, is solid and competently made, but then those are words one always uses when a piece of art falls short of greatness.

"The Kite Runner" begins in 1979, just before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Despite glaring class differences, young Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are inseparable friends. However, Amir's wealthy businessman father, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), is concerned about his son.

"There's something missing in that boy," he laments to his

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