The movie adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel "The Kite Runner" made such an impression on me that I went to bed thinking about kites and woke up the next day having dreamed about them all night. It isn't that the film provides so many indelible images that a viewer simply can't get them out of his or her head. Though well shot and reasonably paced given the amount of material director Marc Forster had to transfer from page to screen, the best thing about "The Kite Runner" is its intact heart, not its technical triumph.

Cards on the table: You're reading a review by the only man in America who has not read the book, though I'll soon make up for that oversight. In the meantime, I'm relying on a friend who says Forster ("Monster's Ball," "Finding Neverland") and screenwriter David Benihoff have honored the major plot points and spirit of Hosseini's book. That's not surprising given that the author was also a consultant on the film.

The story is about an immigrant's search for redemption after a betrayal committed decades ago in his native Afghanistan cast a shadow across his life in America. During the last days of the Afghan monarchy, before the Russian invasion in the late '70s, Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi) and his father Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) lived a privileged life in Kabul. Amir was attended to by his young servant and best friend Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada), who ran interference between his bookish master and the local bullies.

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'The Kite Runner'

• Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Zekiria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada.
• Rating: PG-13 for strong thematic material including the sexual assault of a child, violence and brief strong language.
• Web site: "The Kite Runner"

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Despite their caste differences, Amir and Hassan had an easygoing friendship. Wealthy Baba and Amir treated Hassan and his father Ali (Nabi Tanha) more like family than servants. When Amir -- with Hassan's help -- competes in a kite-flying competition, it is a chance for the dreamy young writer to impress his vaguely remote father, who had been a kite-flying champ in his youth. Dozens of kites dip and soar like so many nylon daggers in the sky over Kabul, creating the film's central metaphor for freedom. It is a look at life in Afghanistan before that nation became the serio-comic backdrop for Cold War snarkiness, as seen in "Charlie Wilson's War."

The competition is capped by a savage act that changes the way the boys see each other and their world. There is an act of betrayal on multiple levels that is beyond the ability of the boys to overcome -- or so it seems. When the Russians roll into Kabul, Amir and Baba flee Afghanistan. They eventually make it to America, where Baba runs a gas station and Amir dreams of becoming a writer.

The film opens with Amir (played as an adult by Khalid Abdalla) getting a long-distance call from Rahim Khan (Shaun Toub), his father's best friend. Now living in Pakistan, Rahim tells Amir that he must return to the region for unfinished business. The matter that Rahim asks Amir to settle gives the newly published author an opportunity to redeem himself and forces Amir to wrestle with the ripple effects of decisions he made as a boy.

It is a heartbreaking story that reminds us that heartfelt narratives are still possible if the right story comes along. "The Kite Runner" has a grand sweep audiences rarely see anymore. It isn't afraid to wear its sentiment on its sleeve even as it deals with a hyper-masculine sense of honor that will be called sentimental -- and even manipulative -- by some.

The film exudes a palpable sense of regret over the loss of the Afghanistan portrayed in "The Kite Runner." You can almost smell the lamb kabobs wafting throughout the neighborhood in Kabul before the Russians invaded. When images of severed goat heads in market stalls are replaced by the image of Taliban thugs stoning a woman in a soccer stadium, we know we're witnessing a continuum of folly that's hard to match in the modern world.

Filmed in China, the scenery makes it hard to believe audiences aren't witnessing life as it really once was before Afghanistan became Russian-, Taliban- and American-occupied territory. The movie uses subtitles, but much of the dialogue is in English. My only quibble, and it is a minor one, is that there is no real sense about how Amir is able to afford costly trips to Pakistan and the badlands of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. There is also the matter of one character's ability to get a passport and waltz through American customs. But because the narrative happens a year before the horror of Sept. 11, it is a part of our willing suspension of disbelief, I suppose.

This is a wonderful film full of old-fashioned suspense, cinematic magic and pathos. It is also the best "holiday" film to come out of Hollywood in years. If you can get through this film without being close to tears at some points, you might as well ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart.