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THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND
Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor Cast: Maxwell Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aïssa Maïga, Lily Banda, Lemogang Tsipa, Philbert Falakeza, Joseph Marcell. Noma Dumezweni MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:53 Release Date: 3/1/19 (limited; Netflix) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | March 1, 2019 The miserable-inspirational balance of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is quite a bit off. We're meant to feel uplifted by the end of the movie, but it spends so much time detailing how bad things are for the people of a small Malawian village that it leaves us feeling a bit suspicious about just how happy this story's ending is. Surely it worked out well enough for the real people (It's based on a true story, naturally), but writer/director Chiwetel Ejiofor doesn't make a convincing case that things will work out as well for the characters of his dramatized version. After all that they've been through and with all of the questions left open at the end, how could it? The problem, strangely, is that Ejiofor's filmmaking debut has too wide of a scope. At its heart is the story of William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba), a clever 13-year-old who seems destined for greatness beyond his circumstances. It's William's story, yes, but not really until the third act, when he seems to be the final option left to the people of his village. The rest of the movie offers equal time to an assortment of problems. William's father Trywell (Ejiofor) has inherited a tobacco farm, and a tobacco estate nearby clears the village's trees. When the rainy season hits, the lands flood and are rendered useless. When a draught strikes, the government refuses to help, tries to silence any protests, and takes measures that lead to the potential starvation of the local population. Meanwhile, the boy's mother Agnes (Aïssa Maïga) struggles to protect her family from the situation and her husband's shortsighted decisions, and his sister Annie (Lily Banda) considers running away to make a new life. One understands and appreciates the Ejiofor's storytelling instincts to place William's eventual triumph in the proper context. The surrounding context, though, overpowers the thrust of William's tale, learning on his own when he's expelled from school and figuring out a makeshift engineering solution to a natural problem. That section of the story feels rushed to the point that it and William's character feel like an afterthought. The core thinking of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind—to give us an actual reason to find William's actions inspirational—is sound. The movie simply arrives at the inspiring part too late for it make a genuine impact. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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