My crazy schedule recently has left me working a lot of long nights in the last few months, and it finally caught up to me. I woke up one Tuesday morning with a terrible headache and a painful throat. I could barely get out of bed, and even after I tried getting a couple more hours of sleep, I was still in a lot of pain. It was the same story the next day. I couldn't even turn on my laptop to set up my automatic out-of-office replies to tell people I was out sick.
Since I was practically bedridden, I decided to just put on a couple of DVDs that I had for a already but haven't been able to watch. Unfortunately for me, the two films I selected are both not the ideal choices for someone who is sick. One was "The Kite Runner" and the other was "Atonement".
(Spoiler alert: I will be taking in some detail about the plot of these two films so if you haven't seen them and don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading here.)
Don't get me wrong, both films are brilliant and very deserving of the rave reviews they got and the awards they won or were nominated for. However, the thing about these two films is that both of them have a lack of redemption in at least some of the main characters, and that somehow makes them difficult and depressing to watch.
Take Atonement for instance. There is a lot of sexual tension building up between the two leads, Robbie and Cecilia (played by James McAvoy and Kiera Knightley), and when they finally openly admit to the attraction for each other, their love is cut short by Cecilia's sister Briony, who is secretly in love with Robbie. Rather than lose Robbie to her sister, Briony accuses him of raping her cousin and he is subsequently sent to prison. Robbie is then given the choice of staying in prison or becoming a soldier (the film is set in World War II) and he chooses instead to fight in the war. He and Cecilia, who has now become a nurse, manage to meet briefly before their lives are forever parted by war, a war which ultimately leads to their tragic and separate deaths.
The Kite Runner is just as, if not more, depressing. It is set mostly in Afghanistan and the lead character, Amir, is the son of a wealthy man named Baba. His best friend, Hassan, was the son of their servant. Despite the difference in class, the two best friends are inseparable up until a gruesome event: Hassan is molested and raped by some bullies. Amir, who witnesses it, does nothing to stop it and is consumed by guilt to the point that he drives Hassan away. When the Russians invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father are forced to flee to the US where their lifestyle changes dramatically - Baba now works in a gasoline station and Amir studies in a community college and works part-time in a flea market. Once Amir graduates and then marries his love interest Soraya, Baba passes away from a terminal illness. It's at this point that Baba's closest friend, Rahim Khan who is now living in Pakistan, asks Amir to pay him a visit. Rahim Khan tells Amir that Hassan is actually his brother from a different mother. Hassan eventually got married and had a son but both he and his wife were killed by the Taliban, who also take his son away. Amir successfully attempts to take Hassan's son away from the Taliban and then brings him to the US to live with him and his wife.
While it is a positive ending - Amir manages to save Hassan's son from the Taliban - I can't get over the fact that Hassan was raped as a kid, driven away by his best friend, and when he manages to have a family of his own, his son is taken away and is killed. I keep thinking how Hassan's last thoughts before dying were that his son would be taken by the Taliban and how hopeless he must have felt when taking his final breath. The fact that Amir is not even able to tell Hassan directly that he is sorry for driving Hassan away makes it even worse.
Despite the timing of me watching these two movies not being the best because I was sick, I am happy that I did get to watch both them. Two thumps up and definitely worth watching.
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