"Atonement" (2007) and "The Kite Runner"(2007) Quiz

Answer: English countryside

As the movie opens, we see a beautiful manor home in the English countryside. It is the home to two sisters, their mother, and a number of servants. An older brother, Leon, has been away.

Answer: The United States and Afghanistan

As the movie opens, we see a young man, Amir, and his wife as they walk into their California apartment, carrying Amir's recently published book. Although Amir has started a new life in the United States, he is soon drawn back to his childhood home in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Answer: Robbie Turner

Briony Tallis, whose family employs Robbie, accuses him of raping her cousin Lola. Over and over again she says that she is sure the attacker was Robbie, when in reality it was the wealthy Paul Marshall. Because of Briony's testimony, Robbie is sent to jail for another person's crime.

Answer: Hazara

Assef and his bully friends pick on Hassan, the Hazara servant boy, and say that they themselves are superior Pushtans. This bullying culminates in a shocking scene where Hassan is cornered and brutally attacked. The Hazaras, living primarily in the central highlands of Afghanistan, are believed to be descendants of the Mongols, who invaded Afghanistan approximately 800 years ago. (The other two answers, Tajik and Turkmen, are other classes in Afghanistan.)

Answer: Amir and his friend Hassan

With his father watching from a balcony, and his friend Hassan handling the glass-encrusted string, Amir cuts the kite of rival Omar to win the kite contest.
The neighborhood bully, Assef, is watching him. Rahim Khan is Amir's father's friend. The bonding between Amir and Hassan makes Amir's later betrayal of Hassan hard to accept.

Answer: She gave up her place at Cambridge University and went to work in a hospital.

Although she was given entrance to Cambridge, like her older brother and sister, Briony chose not to go and to work at a hospital instead. In the movie, one senses the guilt she feels for hurting her family friend, Robbie Turner.

Answer: He plans to search for his friend's orphaned son.

Amir returns to his childhood home of Kabul to search for his friend Hassan's son, who was orphaned by the Taliban. Amir plans to take the boy back to the United States with him. In that way, he "can make things right" after he betrayed Hassan while they were boys. (To find out how he betrayed him, see the movie or read the fabulous book!)

Answer: An aged Briony Tallis

In a surprise ending, an elderly Briony Tallis tells the interviewer that, because of her serious health problems, the novel she has just finished writing is her last book. Then she reveals that her sister and her sister's lover Robbie Turner both died young. Finally, she says that part of her atonement is placing the main characters in her novel, where they could have some happiness together, although in a fictional world.

Answer: Amir flying a kite in a park

With the boy Sohrab and his wife with him, Amir flies a kite, just as he did with Sohrab's father when they were both children. As one kite falls to the ground, Amir tells the boy he will run it for him, "for you, a thousand times". What a terrific movie!

Answer: Keira Knightley

Although all of these are well-known British actresses, it is Keira Knightley who plays the part of Cecily Tallis. In the movie, Cecily's part spans less than a decade and is played entirely by Knightley, while her sister's part spans many decades and is played by Saorise Ronan, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave. As you may know, Keira Knightley also had starring roles in the movies "Bend It Like Beckham" and Hollywood's "Pride and Prejeudice".

Thank you for taking this quiz, and I hope you had fun!