Catharsis and "closure"

In extreme contrast to The Way Things Go, the film we watched in the morning (see my previous blog entry), the film we watched on Tuesday evening was The Kite Runner, though you might say that one thing caused another in the sequence of events depicted there, as well.

I read Khaled Hosseini's novel a couple of years ago on George's recommendation and went to the cinema assuming that the screen adaptation would not live up to my expectations, but I came away with the impression that the film is actually better than the book. The German born director Marc Forster understates and selects, leaving the worst to our imaginations (or our recollections of the written narrative), making the film all the more powerful. The background scenery and crowd scenes are spectacular and anachronisms are meticulously avoided in the flashbacks, but this is a film that focuses on people, not things. We forget we are listening to Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, Russian when the actors aren't speaking in English, so compelling is their performance.

Sitting next to George I could tell that he was becoming overwhelmed by it, though in a way I hope this may have done him good—the Greeks called this phenomenon catharsis.

If you want to be educated about Afghanistan's recent history this is a film to see. I expect the families of soldiers in action over there will take an interest in it as it will give them some insights into the horror in which the Canadians and others are trying to intervene. Last night I was handed an article to read in French from GEO magazine that describes Les Hazaras, le peuple maudit d"Afghanistan, in preparation for a future session with my French conversation group. That's going to be a disturbing read too.

As far as the personal aspect of The Kite Runner is concerned, the end of the story describes the main character's "redemption" and recovery from terrible emotional trauma. The trendy word for this is "closure", but it's a word I disapprove of. On the contrary, if ever you have suffered, you have to open yourself to the truth of what you've gone through, however painful that might be. I don't think you ever come to terms with it by closing a door on it and shutting it away. That's obviously what Mr Hosseini thinks, too.