MOVIE REVIEW - "The First Grader"

Knowledge is Power in The First Grader

Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) is 84-years-old. A resident of a tiny Kenyan village, the solitary man is a former Mau Mau freedom fighter who stood up to the British imperialists during his youth and suffered unspeakable consequences for doing so, the tragedy of which he is still trying to get over all these decades later.



It has been announced that his country’s ruling powers are offering free education to every Kenyan citizen. Maruge cannot read and he values learning above all else, but when he arrives at the small school run by headmistress and teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) he is told he is much too old to enroll. Undaunted, he will not be deterred from his quest, slowly winning over the young educator and all of the children under her and her staff’s tutelage.

Based on a true story, it’s easy to see why director Justin Chadwick’s (The Other Boleyn Girl) inspirational effort The First Grader has struck such a chord with festival audiences around the world. It is a rousing entertainment, one that hits right to the gut and speaks to the very best of what we hope to be, its saga of a man battling for the simple right to learn one just about anyone anywhere can relate to and empathize with.

And if it were that simple I’d be more than willing to overlook a lot of this film’s many melodramatic faults. Maruge’s story is one I thrilled to, watching this elderly man weave his way into the village school and standup for his rights bringing me close to cheers. With simple, documentary-like verisimilitude, yet still working on a beautifully widescreen cinematic scale, Chadwick presents this central tale with sincerity, simplicity and care, rarely layering on the saccharine letting onscreen events speak for themselves.

But I sadly must emphasize the word “rarely,” because whenever the filmmaker strays from the here and now and travels back to Maruge’s youth things don’t quite cut as moving a swath. So much is said in Litondo’s eyes, written in every wrinkle on his face, every move of his body, that a lot of what happened during his younger days didn’t require depiction. Chadwick layers on the symbolism during the flashbacks, spelling things out for the audience in a way that is melodramatic and belittling.

The tragedy of what this one-time warrior and current wannabe scholar went through is undeniable, but the power behind it is lost when shown in overly indulgent detail. When left to Litondo, sitting there, trying to explain Kenya’s history with a hesitant smile to a group of wide-eyed children, describing in detail his personal travails to a horrified yet caring Harris, the film soars to new plateaus, all of them frustratingly undermined every time Chadwick chooses to depict in visuals what only needed to be illustrated in words.

Not that I’m dismissing The First Grader because of this. Just the opposite, really, as so much of it moved me and caught me off guard I can’t begin to call it anything even close to a failure. Newcomer Litondo is extraordinary, while the wonderful Harris equals him transforming a stock, cliché character into a figure who feels vibrant, alive and new. The pair play off one another with delectable ease, each sharing scenes with the children that took my breath away. There is wonderful subtlety on display during the scenes at the school, the emotion of the piece coming through with loudly euphoric glee, the tears flowing from my eyes at the end justly earned and ones I didn’t feel at all bad about shedding.

It helps considerably that the movie is breathtaking in its beauty, magnificently photographed by Rob Hardy (Is Anybody There?). His camerawork takes in the African scenery in a way that put me right in the middle of the proceedings. From the dusty, crowded streets of the country’s capital city to the unenlightened emptiness of Maruge’s village, there is a sublime old-school feel to everything that enraptured my soul, and as long as the director focused on current events my issues with the film evaporated into nothingness.

Unfortunately, Chadwick can’t leave well enough alone, and while I understand his desire to showcase past histories (and appreciate his unflinching attitude toward the horrific lengths Britain went to keep its empire), the stirring human element of the piece has trouble rising above some of the melodrama on display during these sequences. While The First Grader does ultimately manage to get itself out of the muck and mire of this emotional syrup, it isn’t without somewhat diminishing Maruge’s awe-inspiring story. I liked this movie, I just think the lessons it teaches could have been more powerful and long-lasting had the past remained an ethereal dream haunting our hero, finally overcome by his newfound ability to learn from, talk about and educate others in regards to their meaning complex meaning.