Australia's Best Movie Magazine

Film reviews

Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

search the site

Enter search term:

newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter

Enter search term:

The First Grader (Film)

by Erin Free | November 15, 2011 11:08 | Edited November 17, 2011 14:40

It’s an inspiring, feel-good story but it’s made all the more affecting because it doesn’t shy away from the uglier, painful moments and truths.

It's something of a truism in cinema that the best way to tell a big story is by focusing on its smaller details; instead of going for the epic, go for the intimate. It worked recently for director Clint Eastwood, who evoked the true apocalyptic horrors of war by concentrating on a small group of Japanese soldiers in Letters From Iwo Jima, and presented the breadth of the aftermath of Apartheid by telling the story of Nelson Mandela's use of rugby to affect social change in Invictus. Director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) astutely follows this model in the deeply moving drama, The First Grader, which poetically distils the horrific bloodshed of Kenya's recent past in the haunted eyes of one old man.

 

When the Kenyan government announces free education for all as part of its sweeping collection of social changes, 84-year-old Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo in a performance of magisterial grace, restraint and welled up pain) - a former Mau Mau freedom fighter haunted by his past - exits his ramshackle shotgun shack and heads off on hobbling legs to his nearest school. He wants to learn, and despite the protestations of just about everyone, sweet hearted school head, Jane Obinchu (a lovely and spirited turn from Naomie Harris), allows him to sit in with the children. Maruge is a keen student, but his presence soon becomes a lightning rod of controversy. 

 

On paper, The First Grader might sound like a warm and weepy affirmation of underdog spirit. Sure, there are elements of that at work here, but the ugliness of Kenya's British colonial past - and the bloodied resistance that finally overturned it - hangs heavy over proceedings, as does the random violence and intimidation that plague modern Africa. Ultimately, The First Grader is a feel-good film that is heart wrenching and affecting.