LET8217;S GO FLY A KITE

Two Kabul schoolboys who play the lead roles in Kite Runner know what it is to live in the time of violence

AS Marc Forster began the process of re-creating the world of Khaled Hosseini8217;s The Kite Runner, he was committed to retaining the authenticity of the story that had so touched him when he read the novel in 2003.

Like the book, the film tells the heartbreaking story of two Afghan boys scarred by the violence and religious strife that tore through Afghanistan with the Russian invasion in the early 8216;80s. Director Forster knew the boys who would play young Amir, the son of a Kabul businessman, and Hassan, the son of the household8217;s servant, would become the heart of his film. If the audience didn8217;t believe in them 8212; their relationship, their loyalties and betrayals 8212; the power of the film would be lost.

8220;I understood this culture in such a different way8230; You forget Kabul was like the Paris of the East, rich and wonderful,8221; Forster says , 8220;And the humanistic level of these characters, how three-dimensional they were.8221;

To keep that authenticity, the first issue was whether to shoot the film in English or Dari. 8220;The only way to do it was to tell the story in the original language,8221; Forster says. And that affected casting. 8220;When we started looking for the boys in all the different places around the world, the kids we found were too Westernized. I needed to go to Kabul and look.8221;

Forster8217;s casting director, Kate Dowd, headed to Kabul first, with the director joining her about halfway into the three-month process. Young unknowns Zekiria Ebrahimi would be cast as Amir, with Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada as Hassan.

Amir and Hassan8217;s story includes moments of violence, humiliation and brutality, intensely emotional and difficult scenes for seasoned actors, much less for children. What he asked of the children was to imagine that they were there, that this horrific moment was happening to them. 8220;We had early conversations with the families,8221; says Forster, who worked closely with a female Afghan translator.

Ironically, it wasn8217;t the violent scenes that were the hardest to capture. It was the staging of the kite battle, in which all the town8217;s children try to have the last kite in the air. 8220;With the scenes with them individually, it was easier to keep them focused,8221; Forster recalls. 8220;But with the kite battle, there were hundreds, thousands of extras, everyone was playing and having fun.8221;

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That Hosseini had given him a story the boys could believe in is what ultimately helped power the performances: 8220;They were growing up with so much violence around them; they grew up under the Taliban, so they have a very deep understanding for violence and a great love at the same time for their country.8221;

8211; Betsy Sharkey LAT-WP