User Reviews

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)

A great story. True. But not serviced well here. An extremely complex story boiled down to a hollywoodized version of bad guys vs good guys, fuzzy elements of the past in flashback at pivotal points of the slow moving story, bad guys and good guys delineated so clearly they might have been wearing sandwich boards on their backs, several elements of the story leading nowhere, transformation of characters sudden and without development. And - oh yes graphic torture scenes unsuitable for children.

And let's not forget the classic breakthrough boardroom scene with astounded and receptive officials who never call security when the intruder appears like a crazed lunatic to Bring. About. Change.

Good acting, lovely singing but not enough to carry the clichés.

6/10

I was impressed that the UK Film Council went ahead and did this movie despite Britain's ugly history in Kenya. Oliver Litondo and Naomi Harris deserve an ovation every morning. PTSD is real; despite, Maruge broke through. An excellent cinematic and historic piece! You make me proud to be a Capricorn, Maruge!

I homeschool my 12 year old daughter. We are eclectic in our curriculum. My daughter is on a grade level with Sophomore students. This film opened our eyes to the struggle happening in Kenya while the British were fighting over land. This is a great follow up movie to The Good Lie. Although completely different storyline, there is a familiarity and almost mirroring between the two films. This story follows Maruge, an 84 year old gentleman who was part of the Mau Mau tribe and taken into custody after his family was brutally murdered before his eyes. Maruge never received an education, as was true for the majority of adults during this time period. The First Grader follows Maruge's struggle to receive an education and learn to read well after his release from the detainee/work camp in 1963. Maruge appeals to adult and teenaged viewers. He is a classic underdog. He is worth rooting for. Jane Obinchu is the primary school teacher in this remote location in Kenya. She's instantly likable. The viewer feels her pull to help Maruge despite her husband's insistence that it will be nothing but trouble. Jane is engaging, endearing, and in the end, a classic heroine. I would recommend this movie to open up lines of communication between yourself and your child. To expose them to real people during a real event that could easily be used as a 'Torchlighters" series. Follow it up or set it up with The Good Lie. Both well done. Both deserving of an audience.