I watched the Kite Runner today, the silver screen adaptation to the world's fiction darling. It definitely spares the viewer a lot of heart-pain- the omission of Sohrab's attempted suicide, the worry of whether American adoption agencies will approve of his adoption, the difficulties of Amir's publication et cetera et cetera. But it does introduce a lot of spine chilling shit-ass crap as well- stoning in Shri'a, the fight between Assef and Amir and the fucking ball thing in Assef's eye. Like. Right. In. His. Eye. He was bleeding and I was just going shit shit shit shit.

But watching in on screen has brought many new revelations towards why Hosseini crafted such an ending. Emotional aspects of the work aside, The Kite Runner really embodies the fate of Afghanistan herself. Sohrab represents the little hope (that's hard to kill, yes) we have in Afghanistan. His autism and inability to connect with others is really the embodiment of Taliban-ruled Afghanis. And the mad rush of climaxes towards the procurement of Sohrab really is about Afghanistan's horrible dealing of cards. The war with the democratic republicans, then the communists, then the Taliban. This is just the 20th Century. Ancient history has shown this country in constant turmoil.

My friend walked on me while watching the film and immediately mentioned that all the men looked like Osama Bin Laden. Maybe we need a shift in perspective; shift in views. Maybe we all need a time-out. Pray for Afghanistan, because there nothing more left to do.