In the last couple days, the film circles on the internet – mostly on Twitter – have gone back-and-forth with each other regarding comments that Steven Spielberg made about his upcoming meeting with the Academy Board to reconsider the way certain films are made eligible for the Oscars, and by certain films, he mostly means Netflix, having said many times before that he considers their films to be TV movies, and should be up for Emmys instead of Oscars. I’m not going to get too deep into that discussion here – one, because I don’t think it’s nearly as complex as people are making it out to be – a movie is a movie no matter the distribution, and should be treated as such. And two, the whole reason this is a thing basically boils down to corporations looking out for their bottom line, both Netflix/other streaming services and the multiplexes are both equally necessary, but they’re also equally flawed.
The reason I even bring this up is because Netflix has released The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, which is based on the book of the same name, and serves as the directorial debut from actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also wrote the screenplay. Netflix acquired the film late last year before the film premiered at Sundance back in January. Throughout watching it, the recent discussions kept creeping up in the back of my mind. I couldn’t imagine the film, as is, being released by a major studio. I thought about a film from a few years ago called Queen Of Katwe, which, like The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, is an uplifting biographical film centering on a young person dealing with hardship before stumbling onto a skill that they use to help them and the people around them. Queen Of Katwe was a Disney film, and despite a relatively low budget of $15 million, it only made back $10 million at the box office, which is unfortunate given that it’s an absolutely wonderful film. However, that loss ultimately wouldn’t matter with the system that Netflix has in place, it may have even reached a wider audience since number of theaters it hit was roughly half a standard Disney release.
I suppose this is a long-winded way of me saying, it’s nice to see Netflix go out of their way to make sure movies like this get made and given a platform where it can have a better chance of finding an audience that it wouldn’t have through traditional means of distribution, even if I’m still frustrated by their lackluster promotion, as I’m sure many of you probably don’t even know about this movie even existing. It isn’t the most groundbreaking work, it stays within a somewhat familiar formula where we follow William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba), a boy from Malawi, which is in a state of famine due to a devastating drought. However, William is an intuitive kid who has interests in learning about electricity and engineering, and that comes into play when he develops a wind turbine, which could potentially save his village.
One thing that I initially considered a flaw, but quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the film was its willingness to take its time. The whole part of William developing the turbine, which you’d imagine being the main focus, is really just a third act payoff. With the film being just shy of two hours, it spends most of its time establishing the dynamic between the members of Williams family, their everyday struggles, and the political climate. We are able to get a deeper understanding of the circumstances that lead to the desperation of the characters and the community at large, making the big payoffs land that much harder when they finally arrive.
Ejiofor brings a very formalist eye to his direction here. It’s not overtly stylish, but the patience of its stills and slow camera movements – courtesy of cinematographer, Dick Pope – do a great job at making the harsh world around the characters linger in your mind without resorting to pity and exploitation. It’s very matter-of-fact about the struggles, and the way William and his family have to navigate the world with what little they have. It flirts with sentimentalism by the time the third act really kicks into gear, but it completely works, especially as a release for all the tension that’s been building up for the previous hour-and-a-half.
The actors are uniformly excellent, which is typically expected from any film directed by an actor. Simba is a compelling lead, and despite being his first performance, he is able to own the screen, even when sharing it with veterans like Ejiofor, who plays his father, Trywell, or Aïssa Maïga, who plays his mother, Agnes. Those two are also pretty terrific as a couple who do everything within their capabilities to help the family, even if some of their efforts are ultimately in vain. A vast majority of the cast seems to be made up of folks who are acting for the first time, and it doesn’t show at all. In fact, it only furthers the sense of authenticity that the film is built around.
I’ve been a fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor since his early work in stuff like Amistad, Dirty Pretty Things, and Kinky Boots, which I’m not sure how well that last one’s aged, but it’s definitely worth a watch if you haven’t heard of it. It’s satisfying to see someone who is as good of an actor as he is make a smooth transition to the director’s chair. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind doesn’t feel like the kind of vanity project or personal showcase a lot of actor-turned directors usually make the first time around. Instead, it’s just a damn good drama that is genuinely uplifting and inspiring in all the ways movies like this usually are, but done in a way that is full of so much empathy, care, and authenticity. It’s beautifully made, sensitively told, and it like the best of these kinds of movies, it leaves you with a sense of hope, a sense that human spirit and ingenuity can triumph through even the most catastrophic situations. That’s a message that can do some real good to the world, and having someone like Netflix being able to spread it around the world shows why services like it are essential.