The Boy who harnessed the wind Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
If you love entrepreneurship and seeing deserving, hard working kids succeed, you’ll love this film. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a humble success story of one bright kid in Malawi. It’s also a quick 101 of the causes of the Malawian famine, and a brilliant addition to the Netflix catalogue.
From: Malawi, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Watch on Netflix
Next: Queen of Katwe, October Sky, Not One Less
Why Watch The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind?
- Be inspired by invention and entrepreneurial spirit.
- For an easy to watch film from Malawi which explores a lot of issues.
- Witness a battle between modernity and tradition.
- To appreciate free education.
The Breakdown
On the surface, this film is a simple child success story which features one clever child trying to overcome all the obstacles in front of him. It’s a familiar story which you might recognise from Queen of Katwe and Searching for Bobby Fischer. In this case, the obstacles are: an education that isn’t free, a bad harvest which threatens famine, and a stubborn father.
However, to the director’s credit, Ejiofor doesn’t simply stick to the surface – he digs deeper. He tells and shows us why there is a famine in Malawi, presenting us with a range of factors which definitely don’t offer a simple fix-all solution. Firstly, there’s the threat of a bad harvest (from Mozambique) so some towns-men take up short-term jobs to fell trees in the area that further jeopardise their harvest. Secondly, there’s politicians who care more for votes than feeding the people. There’s even a mention of the lack of global support due to 9/11 attacks. The wide range of contributing factors show us that the problem won’t be fixed immediately. It also humbles William’s attempt to help his village – he’s not going to save the world, or stop famine in Malawi, but he can still be a hero for the things he does.
Tradition vs. Modernity
The first thing you see in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is lush green grass and a procession of Gule Wamkulu dancers. The dancers are part of a tradition thought to date back to the Chewa Empire of the 17th Century, with the green grass indicating that the tradition is still alive and well. As dancers, they are believed to be spirits of the dead, and in this case, they have anticipated the death of William’s uncle, one of the local chiefs.
In contrast to the tradition filled opening, the next scene shows William, a young teenager, a few years later fixing some radios, symbols of modernity. The opening scenes immediately introduce us to African pride and tradition,as well as the promise of modernity, two themes which clash and meld throughout this film.
Modernity is good and bad. It’s represented in the technology that William uses to bring water to his village (good) as well as in the people wearing suits (good and bad). Half of the suit wearers are bad people, such as the lying politicians and the unsympathetic tobacco corporation leader. However, the other suit wearers: the teachers and students, help William in his quest to bring water to the village. As a result, the director hints that modernity is good or bad depending on those who use it and how it is used.
Unlike modernity, tradition is represented positively throughout, but it’s portrayed as something that can be forgotten or lost. It’s depicted through the Gule Wamkulu dancers, the Chewa language, as well as the character’s Faith in the old ways. Halfway through the film, when the drought is worsening, William sees one of the Gule Wamkulu dancers sitting under a tree with flies buzzing around his head. It looks as if he has become another victim of the famine. The fallen dancer seems to be an omen of the danger of forgetting your past, roots, and pride, as at this point in the film many of the town citizens have fled. William only manages to move forward by remaining in his town with the faith of his family and friends. It shows us that the answer is not to simply embrace modernity, but to move forward with modernity and tradition hand in hand: embracing change and adapting tradition.
What to Watch Next
If you’re looking for more easy to watch films about African kids, check out Disney’s Queen of Katwe and Africa United. The first follows a Ugandan chess prodigy and the second follows a few kids walking across Africa to see the world up in South Africa.
If you’re after more films featuring school kids, check out Not One Less from China and MacFarland, another easy to watch Disney film.
Or if you’re after more against all odds entrepreneurial stories, check out Systeme K from the DRC, where artists turn junk into art and also October Sky, where a kid in a U.S. mining town dreams of becoming a rocket scientist.
','' ); } ?>