Movie Review | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Today I’m talking about another AMAZING Netflix movie called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It is a 2019 British drama film written, directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor in his feature directorial debut. The film is based on the memoir The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. It first premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and began streaming on Netflix on 1 March 2019. To give you a little overview about the whole movie, keep reading to find the official plot, cast and my review about the movie – enjoy!
© Netflix
What is the movie about?
To get you interested in this truly amazing movie and the story behind it here you go with the official summary, the cast and the trailer for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Plot
Born in Kasungu, Malawi, William Kamkwamba is a young schoolboy who comes from a family of farmers who live in the nearby village of Wimbe. William also dabbles in fixing radios for his friends and neighbors and spends his free time looking through the local junkyard for salvageable electronic components. Although he is soon barred from attending school due to his parents’ inability to pay his tuition fees, William blackmails his science teacher (who is in a secret relationship with William’s sister) into letting him continue attending his class and have access to the school’s library where he learns about electrical engineering and energy production.
By the mid-2000s, failing crops due to drought and the resulting famine has devastated William’s village, leading to riots over government rationing and William’s family being robbed of their already meager grain stores. People soon begin abandoning the village, and William’s sister elopes with his former teacher in order to leave her family “one less mouth to feed”.
Seeking to save his village from the drought, William devises a plan to build a windmill to power an electric water pump that he had scavenged earlier. William builds a small proof of concept prototype which works successfully, but to build a larger windmill, William requires his father, Trywell, to give permission to dismantle the family bicycle for parts, which is the only bicycle in the village and the family’s last major asset. His father believes the exercise futile and destroys the prototype. However, after intervention from William’s mother, William and his father reconcile, and with the help of his friends and the remaining members of the village, they build a full-size wind turbine which leads to a successful crop being sown.
Cast
- Maxwell Simba as William Kamkwamba
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Trywell Kamkwamba
- Aïssa Maïga as Agnes Kamkwamba
- Lily Banda as Annie Kamkwamba
- Joseph Marcell as Chief Wimbe
- Noma Dumezweni as Edith Sikelo
- Lemogang Tsipa as Mike Kachigunda
- Philbert Falakeza as Gilbert Wimbe
Trailer
Review
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I should watch the movie at first, but then a friend of mine told me about it and was totally mind blown by it. And you have no idea how true that was.
You’ve got this boy who just wants to go to school and actually learn things to have a bright future. The main character William is such an amazing boy and blew my mind a million times during the movie. We all saw documentaries or movies where they show us how bad things in Africa and around the world are but still this movie was different.
First we get the whole story about the family and there daily life and what they do to survive. We get a glimpse into each character in the Kamkwamba family and believe me, each story is totally unique. I won’t tell you more about it otherwise I would ruin the movie for you.
This story is hearbreaking, full of emotions that you can’t really control, You will feel a lot of anger, sadness, happiness and love while watching The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Be ready to live through an emotional roller coaster including an amazing story and amazing acting by each and everyone.
I can highly recommend this movie – definitely a must-watch!
