14. The Kite Runner
Based on international bestselling novel of the same name (by Afghan-American author, Khaled Hosseini), The Kite Runner is an emotionally shattering film, and one of the very best "prestige" pictures (though it isn't really) of recent times. Directed by Marc Forster, a director whose diverse oeuvre includes this, Monster's Ball, World War Z, and a James Bond film in Quantum of Solace, the Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy tortured by the guilt he feels as a consequence of abandoning his best friend, Hassan. Set against multiple backdrops of political upheaval - the fall of the Afghan monarchy, the exodus of Afghan refugees to Pakistan and the US, the beginnings of the Taliban regime - The Kite Runner is staggering in its depictions of otherness, and though it ends on a heartwarming note, the journey it takes to get there is fraught with melancholy. What Hollywood might call a 'tweener, The Kite Runner isn't quite arthouse, but nor is it family-friendly awards-bait fluff, either, instead presenting itself as a genuine, heartfelt film unconcerned with labels and wholly concerned with telling its prescient story to whoever the audience may be.