However, the new-world love story, culture clash, and medical mini-drama that form the bridge between 1970s mistakes and contemporary deliverance mute the carefully cultivated earlier tension, shifting focus substantially and subsequently killing pace and deflating the too-brief latter-third’s effectiveness. Even when it involves a passage through a war zone, redemption in twenty minutes feels slight under the weight of 100 minutes/two decades of justly accumulated guilt. With comparatively little time devoted to it, the grown-up Amir’s (played reservedly by Khalid Abdalla) redemptive journey back to his homeland plays like an exigent chore rather than the heroic quest that his moral exoneration requires.

Regardless of its shortcomings, The Kite Runner does boast moments of aesthetic flair. Fittingly, the symbolic thrust of the film depends almost entirely on flying, wood-bound silk; the kite is, at turns, freedom, regret, and redemption. With such figurative importance placed on a single sheet of fabric, it is imperative that Forster nails the kite scenes, and he does not disappoint. He and his constant Director of Photography, Roberto Schaefer (he has shot every Forster film to date), have created dazzling airborne battles. The visually virtuosic kite sequences play like Top Gun with strings and pint-sized pilots. Excited combatants live and die by spooled tethers as colourful flying sheets of material look down on crowded rooftops, dancing about Kabul’s sky more beautifully than plastic bags.

Along with his deft kite-work, Forster also has a knack for culling solid performances from unexpected places (Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction) and children (Freddy Highmore in Finding Neverland). Here, his stable of kid actors and unknowns do well with their conflicted. Especially of note, Homayoun Ershadi as Amir’s father, gives a standout performance, crafting a complex personality that seamlessly and convincingly moves from robust, confident, and prosperous, to beat down and proletarian while maintaining a coherent, subtle dignity. He infuses an archetype – the demanding, oft-disappointed father - with strength, humour, and authenticity and his turn should be remembered during awards season.