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Movies like The Kite Runner

Key Features:
Redemption, Friendship, Guilt, Afghanistan, Cultural conflict, Political unrest, Childhood trauma, Moral dilemma, Loyalty, Sacrifice, Family drama, Coming-of-age, Exile, Nostalgia, Betrayal
Tone:
serious, dramatic, earnest
Target Audience:
Drama enthusiasts, Readers of literary fiction, Viewers interested in global stories, Those seeking emotional narratives
Emotional Arc:
Hope → Despair → Redemption

The Kite Runner

2007-12-14
The Kite Runner Poster - Find Similar Movies

After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

Genres
Drama
Cast
Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, Atossa Leoni, Khalid Abdalla, Elham Ehsas, Homayoun Ershadi, Saïd Taghmaoui, Mustafa Haidari, Shaun Toub, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ali Danish Bakhty Ari
Crew
Marc Forster, David Benioff
Rating
7.3(1207 votes)
The Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner
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Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite

Sent to prison along with his mother after her drug conviction, a young boy develops a warm, tender relationship with a political prisoner.



The Return
6.5

After twenty years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king has finally returned home, but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war.



Omar
Omar(2013)
7.1

The drama, the story of three childhood friends and a young woman who are torn apart in their fight for freedom, is billed as the first fully-financed film to come out of the Palestinian cinema industry.



Man Down
Man Down(2015)
6.011

When a U.S. Marine returns home from Afghanistan, he finds that the place he once called home is no better than the battlefields he fought on overseas. Accompanied by his best friend, he searches desperately for the whereabouts of his estranged son and wife. In their search, the two intercept a man carrying vital information about his family.



Back Home
Back Home(2020)
5.8

The prodigal son of a family in turmoil returns home to his French rural home to reconnect with his family and make sense of their dysfunctions.



Where Is The Friend's House?

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.



Flee
Flee(2021)
7.741

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.



The Swallows of Kabul

Summer 1998—Kabul under Taliban rule. Zunaira and Mohsen are young and in love. Despite the daily violence and misery, they hope for a better future. One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn.



Bittersweet
7.494

An Egyptian-American returns to his homeland after twenty years abroad, filled with nostalgia and high hopes. But as he reconnects with his roots, he finds himself caught between two worlds—and begins to experience the reality of a country he thought he knew.



Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur(2016)
5.8

A falsely accused nobleman survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him.



Here
Here(2024)
6.543

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.



The Blue Kite
7.182

A young man recalls his childhood growing up in a poor alley in Beijing during the 1950s and 1960s.



Return to Paradise
6.475

Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three friends vacationing in Malaysia. Sheriff and Tony eventually leave to pursue careers in New York, but Lewis stays behind to work with orangutans. Two years later, Sheriff and Tony learn that, because of their past actions, Lewis has been arrested for drug possession. With Lewis facing a death sentence, the friends are left with a difficult decision: return to Malaysia and split Lewis' sentence, or let him die.



The Good Lie
7.4

A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to this new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.



Friend
Friend(2001)
6.9

Despite their different family backgrounds, four friends grew up together in the wearisome years of the 70s. But as time goes by, each of them takes a different life path.



Paradise Now
6.874

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.



A Hero
A Hero(2021)
7.307

Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned. Is he truly a hero?



T2 Trainspotting
6.944

After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie.



Manchester by the Sea

After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.



Far from Men
6.803

A French teacher in a small Algerian village during the Algerian War forms an unexpected bond with a dissident who is ordered to be turned in to the authorities.



Kites
Kites(2010)
7.206

A wounded man searches for his sweetheart in the Mexican desert while on the run from the police, bounty hunters, and others.



Bhoothnath Returns
6.3

Boothnath vows to redeem himself when spirits tease him, and searches for a child to terrify. He befriends Akhrot, a slum kid, and helps him take on the country's most powerful politician.



Home
Home(2021)
6.7

An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.



Boy A
Boy A(2008)
7.109

Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.



The Eel
The Eel(1997)
6.867

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison.



Haider
Haider(2014)
7.171

A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects to have a role in his father's fate.



Brothers
Brothers(2009)
7.3

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.



The Past
The Past(2013)
7.2

After four years apart, Ahmad returns to his wife Marie in Paris in order to progress their divorce. During his brief stay, he cannot help noticing the strained relationship between Marie and her daughter Lucie. As he attempts to improve matters between mother and daughter Ahmad unwittingly lifts the lid on a long buried secret...



9th Company
6.703

Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.



The Needle
6.7

Moro returns to Alma-Ata to collect money owed to him. While waiting out an unexpected delay, he visits his former girlfriend Dina and discovers she has become a morphine addict. He decides to help her kick the habit and to fight the local drug mafia responsible for her condition.



The Bandit
7.324

Baran the Bandit, released from prison after serving 35 years, searches for vengeance against his former best friend who betrayed him and stole his lover, teaming up with a young punk with his own demons along the way.



Rang De Basanti
7.104

After a group of friends graduate from Delhi University, they listlessly haunt their old campus, until a British filmmaker casts them in a film she's making about freedom fighters under British rule. Although the group is largely apolitical, the tragic death of a friend owing to local government corruption awakens their patriotism. Inspired by the freedom fighters they represent in the film, the friends collectively decide to avenge the killing.



Kite
Kite(2014)
4.289

When Sawa's mother and policeman father are found victims of a grisly double homicide, she begins a ruthless pursuit for the man who murdered them. With the help of her father's ex-partner, Karl Aker, and a mysterious friend from her past, she becomes a merciless teen assassin, blasting her way through the dark world of human trafficking only to uncover a devastating truth



Marseille
Marseille(2016)
4.885

Faced with the insistence of his brother Joseph, whom he has not seen for 25 years, Paolo resolves to give up his calm and harmonious life in Canada, to return to Marseilles at the bedside of his rugged father. He left, therefore, with his son under his arm, determined not to linger in that city which he had fled years before, after a tragedy. He does not imagine that the affection of his newfound family, his love affair with a young woman and the joyful and simple solidarity of the Marseillais will reconcile him with this city he would never have wanted to leave...Marseillle.



The Adam Project

After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.



Abandoned Man
7.336

After serving time in prison for his brother's crime, a man warily reunites with family, finding hope and healing in a life-changing bond with his niece.



Leaving Afghanistan
6.592

1988-1989. The end of the Soviet-Afghan war. The USSR begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet General Vasiliev's son - a pilot named Alexander gets kidnapped by the mujahideen after his airplane crashes. As a result the 108th motorized infantry division's long awaited return home gets put on hold for one last mission: bring the General's son back. Based on true events the previously untold story of the courageous and tragic withdrawal campaign (through the Salang pass) reveals the danger the horror and the complexity of human nature during wartime.



Text
Text(2019)
6.4

Ilya Goryunov has spent seven years in prison on false charges of drug trafficking. When Ilya is free he realizes that the old life that he yearned for is no more. Although he did not intend to take revenge on the man who sent him to prison, now there is no other way out.



In a Better World
7.1

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.



Imperial Dreams
6.6

A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.



Thank You for Your Service

A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield.



Life, and Nothing More…

After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.



Finch
Finch(2021)
7.823

On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship, and what it means to be human.



Wild Bill
Wild Bill(2011)
6.8

Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.



The Color of Paradise

Mohammad joyfully returns to his tiny village on summer vacation from the Institute for the Blind, unaware of his widowed father's intentions to disown him in order to win the hand—and dowry—of a local woman. With the wedding swiftly approaching, Mohammad's future hangs precariously in the balance as his father struggles against his destiny, unable to see the wonder of life and love that's so clear to his son.



The Best of Me
7.462

A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.



Fort Bliss
6.402

After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship with her young son.



Close
Close(2022)
7.785

Two 13-year-old boys spend an idyllic summer together, but their connection is put to the test when they become the subject of speculation at school.



Warhorse One
7.2

A gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief must guide a child to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.



Toss-Up
Toss-Up(2004)
6.9

Two soldiers return home from their military service in southeastern Turkey with disabilities.



The Returned
6

In a post-zombie world, where the infected live normal lives, their retroviral drug is running out.



The Road Home
7.5

Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.



Stillwater
6.6

Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.



Simón
Simón(2023)
8.301

Simón, a Venezuelan freedom fighter exiled in Miami, copes not only with trauma, but also deep guilt over a choice he must make: stay in Miami and start a new life, or return home to the losing fight against a tyrannical regime.



An Indian Tale
6

The life of two men changed unexpectedly when Ajith, an Indian sailor who was robbed and lost everything, appears out of nowhere in front of Pierre, a single and grumpy Frenchman.



Esteros
Esteros(2016)
6.512

Childhood friends Matías and Jerónimo reach adolescence and experience sexual attraction to each other, before being separated by circumstances. Later, as young adults, they meet again, and the film follows themes of complicated relationships and sexual tensions, as well as issues of homophobia.



Return to Innocence

A searing legal drama that centers on a highly credentialed child psychologist whose life is shattered when he's accused of sexually assaulting a young boy he's been treating.



Atlantis
Atlantis(2020)
6.618

A soldier suffering from PTSD befriends a young volunteer hoping to restore peaceful energy to a war-torn society.



Frenchmen 2
6.044

Alex, Antoine, Jeff and Manu. Four friends, four years later. Their relationships, friendship, shared secrets, feelings of guilt and their desire to change and improve.



Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life

When the creator of the world, Arceus, comes to pass judgement on humanity for the theft of the legendary Jewel of Life, Ash and his friends are sent back in time to possibly reverse the events that led to Arceus' vendetta.



Boomerang
Boomerang(2015)
6.212

When Antoine returns to the island of Noirmoutier, secrets kept in the past resurfaces and threatens to change his family’s present.



Our Futures
6.207

Yann who is trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to cope with his life generally and especially bereavement decides to look up Thomas, his best friend from high school. Thomas is thee same crazy character as he ever was and between them they cook up a plan to rearrange Yann's birthday party from their high school days and get all their old friends to come along. This means locating their friends and a journey to visit and convince some of them to join in their plan. How their friends have changed, their lives and the revelations provide plenty of humour. But why is his friend Thomas just the same as he ever was ?



Between Us
6.3

A group of literature-loving friends bury letters to be opened 10 years later when they will confront the dreams of their youth with what the future has held in store for them.



Return
Return(2015)
6.6

A young man returns home for the weekend to discover the difficulty of juggling friends, parents, magic mushrooms and several thousand chickens.



The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta struggle with the consequences of their victory as unrest spreads across Panem. Forced back into the spotlight, they become symbols of hope and resistance while the Capitol prepares a new and deadly challenge that will change the future of the nation forever.



Innocence
Innocence(1997)
7.708

Yusuf is released from prison after serving a ten year sentence. Because of unexpected problems at his sister’s house, he finds himself in a cheap hotel where he meets a man, a woman, and a child who will change his life in unexpected ways…



Return
Return(2011)
6.438

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.



The Baker
The Baker(2023)
6.273

A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.



The Forgiven
5.7

Over a weekend in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a random accident reverberates through the lives of both the local Muslims and Western visitors to a house party in a grand villa.



Christopher Robin
7.3

Christopher Robin, the boy who had countless adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood, has grown up and lost his way. Now it’s up to his spirited and loveable stuffed animals, Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and the rest of the gang, to rekindle their friendship and remind him of endless days of childlike wonder and make-believe, when doing nothing was the very best something.



The Stranger by the Shore

Abandoned after coming out, Shun befriends Mio just before he has to move. Years later, Mio returns with a confession. How will Shun feel?



News of the World
6.9

A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.



Life of Pi
7.4

The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.



Ironweed
Ironweed(1987)
6.308

An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.



The Retrieval
6.38

On the outskirts of the Civil War, a boy is sent north by a bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.



Brothers of the Wind

The way of the eagle is to raise two chicks. The stronger is destined always to throw the weaker from the nest. Man also has his ways, often to hurt those closest to him. Lukas suffers at the hands of a father who has withdrawn since the loss of his wife. Killed whilst rescuing the infant Lukas, the boy now carries the burden of her death. Our eagle’s story begins in the nest. The first-born chick pushes his weaker brother to a certain death on the forest floor. But fate intervenes and the chick is found by Lukas. Naming him Abel, Lukas cares for the creature in secret, finding a love and companionship denied to him at home. But when the day comes to release Abel back into the wild, will Lukas find his own release into a new life?



12 Strong
12 Strong(2018)
6.345

A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.



Forsaken
Forsaken(2015)
6.2

John Henry returns to his hometown in hopes of repairing his relationship with his estranged father, but a local gang is terrorizing the town. John Henry is the only one who can stop them, however he has abandoned both his gun and reputation as a fearless quick-draw killer.



Jersey
Jersey(2019)
8.195

After his career fails to take off, a gifted cricketer in his mid-thirties decides that he’s not ready to give up quite yet.



Stop-Loss
Stop-Loss(2008)
6.137

A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



(re)kindle
7.4

Ana and Helen, two divorced women, were close friends as teenagers. Today, amidst the corona virus pandemic and in quarantine, they get in touch after 20 years via internet. Through video conference calls, memories, sensations and emotions reflourishes.



God Bless the Broken Road

The story of a young mother who loses her husband in Afghanistan and struggles to raise their young daughter in his absence.



Rurouni Kenshin: Requiem for the Ishin Patriots

The war against the Tokugawa Shogunate ended years ago. But there are some who are not happy with the outcome. Shigure Takimi watched his friends and family get slashed down in the name of freedom and prosperity. Now he and a band of desparate rebels have sworn to settle one final score. Only one man stands in their way: Rurouni Kenshin. Will the former assassin take up his sword to fight again? When Shigure discovers Kenshin's true identity and his fight becomes a personal vendetta, the young hero will have no choice.



I Am Jonas
6.7

When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in grappling with his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories from this time still haunt Jonas.



10 Years
10 Years(2012)
5.828

A group of friends reunite ten years after their high-school graduation.



Paris, Texas
8.093

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.



The Four Feathers
6.623

A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.



The Worthy
4.9

In this dystopian thriller, with civilization a thing of the past, a man puts his family in peril when he reluctantly lets outsiders into his compound.



Sniper 3
Sniper 3(2004)
5.4

Having taken out warlords, drug kingpins and international assassins, Thomas Beckett must now face the ultimate enemy, his best friend Paul Finnegan.



The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

Four young women continue the journey toward adulthood that began with "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." Now three years later, these lifelong friends embark on separate paths for their first year of college and the summer beyond, but remain in touch by sharing their experiences with each other.



The Fisher King
7.298

Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.



Good Grief
6.211

When his husband unexpectedly dies, Marc's world shatters, sending him and his two best friends on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.



Yao
Yao(2019)
6.6

From his village in northern Senegal, Yao is a 13-year-old boy ready to do anything to meet his hero: Seydou Tall, a famous French actor. Invited to Dakar to promote his new book, the latter goes to his country of origin for the first time. To fulfill his dream, the young Yao organizes his fugue and brave 387 kilometers alone to the capital. Touched by this child, the actor decides to flee his obligations and to accompany him home. But on the dusty and uncertain roads of Senegal, Seydou understands that while rolling towards the village of the child, it also rolls towards its roots.



Walking Tall: The Payback

A man goes back to his hometown that is now overrun with crime and single-handedly takes justice into his own hands.



Lions for Lambs
6

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.



Welcome
Welcome(2009)
7.2

Bilal is 17 years old, a Kurdish boy from Iraq. He sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe. He wants to get to England to see his love who lives there. Bilal finally reaches Calais, but how do you cover 32 kilometers of the English Channel when you can't swim? The boy soon discovers that his trip won't be as easy as he imagined... The community of struggling illegal aliens in Calais



Wajib
Wajib(2017)
7.2

After years abroad in Italy, Shadi returns to his native Nazareth. But this is no spectacular homecoming. He's back somewhat begrudgingly to honour his "wajib" (or duty) to hand out invitations to his sister's wedding with his father. The simmering tension between the two — who are often stuck in a car, more often than not in traffic — builds, exposing the sometimes-comic chasms that exist between men who live in different worlds but share an unshakable bond.



Ay Lav Yu
Ay Lav Yu(2010)
4.95

Mukhtar Yusuf Ağa’s unregistered village in eastern Anatolia has been championed through letters to government officials, and his lost son İbrahim, rescued and registered by Father Hana, is finally returning at age 30 with his American love Jessica; the question is whether Tinne can become their true homeland.

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