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The First Grader

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The First Grader (2010)

September. 12,2010
|
7.4
|
PG-13
| Drama History Romance
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The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.

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Reviews

Grimerlana
2010/09/12

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

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Konterr
2010/09/13

Brilliant and touching

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Afouotos
2010/09/14

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

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Kayden
2010/09/15

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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selfsimilarity-61803399
2010/09/16

Truly a Soul Enriching Journey: the rare piece of Cinema which might just change your interior life... to say much more than this is to take away from what Matters. My Emotional and Spiritual Journey through life is forever Sweetened by this Evocative, true-life story~ it is as if i've learned to find a Hero, all over again, for the first time.i know i can never have anything in common with this man, and yet i feel as though i love him... i would joyfully invite him into my life and would find paradise at his knee listening to him tell the stories of his life... his strength, courage, tenacity, need, and generosity of spirit make me feel shame at being human and find redemption in humanity at the same time. i've gained so much by giving just these few moments to this film, his story will stay with me until the End of Time. If there is a person on earth i admire as much as him, i've yet to meet them.

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davideo-2
2010/09/17

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning The Kenyan government suddenly announces free education for all- something 84 year old former Mau Mau warrior Maruge (Oliver Litondo in his debut role) takes rather literally, turning up at the run down school meant to teach six year olds to get what he should have had as a child. Meeting fierce opposition from parents and teachers, the only one who comes round to giving him a chance is teacher Jane (Naomie Harris) with whom he takes a rickety journey with various twists and turns.Justin Chadwick's little heard of drama is another drama for the 'fact is stranger than fiction' staple, detailing the true life story of Maruge who really battled for his right to what he should have been given as a youngster, and died in 2009 at the age of 89, 84 surprising enough an age given the average life expectancy for a male in Kenya can't be more than late forties?!? In all ways, it's a bizarre tale made even more bizarre by the fact it's true. But true it is, and while Chadwick's effort doesn't go beyond the genre conventions of the 'triumpth against all odds' formula, it plays to them as competently and effectively as it should, never becoming too drowned in sentiment or too clichéd and predictable to care about it. In what is ironically his debut acting role, in the lead Litondo feels very much like the character he's playing, an old and confused man with what seem to some like eccentric expectations, haunted by a devastating past he still hasn't come to terms with as a very old man, while the always impressive Harris nails the role as the driven, determined teacher.The only real, and notable, criticism of The First Grader is that it's just been done before, and doesn't really do anything to make it stand out from the loads of other films there have been about someone struggling against the odds to achieve the seemingly impossible. But as a way to take up just over an hour and a half of your time, it's a faultless and delivering enough example of the formula. ***

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Gordon-11
2010/09/18

This film is about a 84-year-old man who insists on attending primary school, when the Kenyan government announces that there is free education for all."The First Grader" is about an elderly man who wants to be educated. His action provokes debate within the viewer, as we have to decide on how to interpret the Kenyan government's promise, ethical issues, effective allocation of public resources and opportunity costs. This topic is already very interesting and intellectually stimulating. There is also a subplot about the dark colonial history of Kenya, which probably aims to enhance the viewers' connection with the protagonist. However, I find the subplot ineffective without more detailed background history of Kenya, and more development on this subplot. Despite the shortcoming, "The First Grader" is still a touching and inspiring tale.

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FilmRap
2010/09/19

We take for granted that everyone in this country is entitled to an education. We especially can appreciate it when we see it through the eyes of eager children trying to learn the their ABCs in a dusty one room class room in Kenya where the government has decreed, for the first time, the right of everyone to be educated. We are taken to a new level of appreciation when we see it from the point of view of an 85 year old man Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge (Oliver Musila Litondo) who is determined to join this class and get the education he never had and learn to read. This is based a true story of a man who became a national hero in Kenya and a symbol of the universal desire for education as his quest ultimately brought the real Maruge from his country village to address the United Nations. However important this theme may be, there also was another story going on here. This proud man had been part of Kikuyu tribe, which produced the Mau-Mau rebellion, which ultimately led to the Kenyan independence from British colonial rule. He demands and gets the respect as others realize that he had been one of freedom fighters who took a sacred oath to return the land controlled by the British back to the native people. As a young man he endured torture and witnessed the death of his wife and children at the hands of the British who demanded that he give up his oath of resistance. The movie flashes back from the present day of this old man trying to learn to read to when he was resisting the powerful British. This is a poignant and dramatic story about a piece of history that most of us do not know much about. It is based on screenplay by Ann Peacock but carried forth and molded by director Justin Chadwick. It is all the more remarkable because it paints an extremely negative picture of colonial Britain by this British Director with the initial support of the BBC, which took the project into development. The school children and most of the characters were not professional actors but all real life Kenyan people. This included the children and their school, which was quite genuine. The exception was Naomie Harris an outstanding English screen actress who had a major role-playing Jane Obinchu the schoolteacher who believed Maruge deserved the opportunity to learn to read. The performance by Litondo as Maruge is totally believable, as he seems to embody this "Mandelaisk" persona. Litondo is a native Kenyan who used to be a news anchor with no previous acting experience. Harris, Chadwick and their entire crew spent several weeks in Kenya working with locals and preparing to shoot this movie there. The result is an extremely, sensitive effective and emotional film. A middle school teacher in our audience mentioned how she was inspired to go back into her classroom and we all could feel the awe and the thirst for learning that young people and a deprived older man might feel. We also have had our interest peaked to learn more about this very interesting and complicated piece of African history about which this story only scratched the surface. It is a movie that should not be missed. (2011)

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