"The Kite Runner"

Last night I watched the DVD of "The Kite Runner". I am interested in this movie not because of the famous novel it based on, but rather, I had a "bad relationship" with this

Old Town in Kashgar

movie -- the Afghan scenes in the movie were filmed in Xinjiang province in China, in particular, in the Tashkurgan (塔什库尔干) county and the city of Kashgar (喀什). When I traveled in Tashkurgan back in year 2006, the movie was being filmed in the area. Tashkurgan is a very small town, on the borders of both Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as Pakistan. Almost all hotels/inns were occupied by the production team. Even worse, they "took over" and blocked all access to the famous "Stone Fortress" outside the town (the kite fighting and kite running scenes at the beginning of the movie were definitely filmed in the Stone Fortress hill and

Golden Tashkurgan

its nearby "Golden Meadow" grassland). The Stone Fortress is the landmark of Tashkurgan, in fact, it is the meaning of the name "Tashkurgan" in Uighur (language). You can imagine how frustrated and angry I could be at the time! :) Indeed, I cursed the movie many times in that day...

Back to the movie. In short, I like it, and like it very much. It is a very moving movie, and beautifully shot. What struck me, after watching the movie, was not the plots or the story, rather, it was the culture, the Muslim culture, and the people. I don't remember since when, we were given, directly or indirectly, some sort of impression that Muslim = bad = inhuman. The government and the media certainly have done a great job of playing the fear factor. I am glad that this movie reminds us once again that there are always good in people, and we are all human alike, just live in different circumstances.

Read some of the good quotes from the novel/movie:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner