The Kite Runner
I read this book a few months ago and very much enjoyed it. I know it has been a huge hit but I didn't read it when there was all the hype about it - I bought it but didn't get to it until December of last year. It was hard to picture it all taking place as despite the vivid descriptions the landscape and times were quite alien to me - so I had a hard time with the vision but still enjoyed the book tremendously.
Books and their screen versions can be so very different. When I know that there is a film that is from a famous book I try to read the book first. Not only so I have an idea then of the plot and feel of the storyline but I can see how accurately the movie is then made. I had heard so much about the film of 'The Kite Runner' - they delayed the release of it here as they were worried about the backlash for the 2 young boys who were acting the main roles- there is a rape scene and it was feared that it would anger the Afghans and they would retaliate against the boys - so they were moved out of the country themselves before the release of the film. I had also heard that the majority of the film had subtitles -and I was not looking foward to this ...
Incidentally I once did a course on subtitling - it is a lot more complex than you would think - not only do you have to convey the meaning, you have to do it at the right speed for the sound, give it the right tone (e.g. Queen's English vs Slang) and you also have a limited number of spaces for your letters. It is quite a hard thing to do.
But this film worked. The subtitles were fine and hearing the native tongue made the film. It really did. It stayed quite true to the book itself and as I was explaining to a friend last night (who had also read the book but had not seen the film as of yet) - seeing the Kite Running displays and the way they 'cut' the other kites really explained what I had not been able to picture. Despite it having been such a huge hit (the book) the film has been successful but not perhaps as much as had been anticipated. I think here it has almost grossed 13 million dollars. And in my city at least it is now only showing in a couple of theaters......
I read this and also 'Atonement' before seeing their films and was glad I had done it this way around. I am not sure I would have been drawn to 'The Kite Runner' had I not read the book and as much as I loved the film, I am not sure that seeing it alone would have made me want to go out and buy the book to read. This was the case lasr year however when I saw 'The Namesake.' Loved the movie and went on to really enjoy the book too.
Comments
Re subtitling, when I'm at the gym I listen to my iPod but I watch the TV screens because they have the subtitles switched on. I often watch This Morning on ITV just because it's on and that's live, and the subtitles are APPALLING. Some of the things they type are actually quite hilarious - of course I can't remember any of the funny ones now I'm trying to think of them but if they come to me I'll tell you them.
I loved the Kite Runner.