When the Kenyan government magnanimously offered free education for all its citizens in 2003, the illiterate Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge jumped at the chance to learn how to read and duly turned up at the village’s tiny primary school.
There was one major problem: Maruge was 84. Two, actually: Maruge was haunted by memories of being tortured as a Mau Mau rebel by the British Colonialists in the 1950s and he harboured grudges against rival tribes.
The First Grader tells two parallel stories: how this great-grandfather overcame prejudice, bureaucratic interference and government corruption to earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest person in the world to start primary school; and how the head teacher’s brave support of her pupil jeopardised her safety, her job and her marriage.
All ripe material for a melodrama but the film earns a B- due to the often schmaltzy tone of the screenplay by South African born Ann Peacock and the heavy handed direction by Justin Chadwick.
The opening scenes show Maruge (Oliver Musila Litondo) being rejected in his initial attempts to enrol: firstly because the literally poor man lacked books and a pencil, secondly as he had no school uniform. Head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) relents after he cut his trousers into a pair of shorts, combined with long socks and a shabby jumper, despite fierce opposition from the region’s school inspector. Suffering from poor eyesight, he sits at the front of the class and is a quick learner.
His motivation in going to school stems from having received a letter from the government which he’s determined to read for himself.
But he struggles to escape his past, as when breaking a pencil in the classroom brings back memories of having had a pencil jabbed in his ear by his tormentors in a British prison camp: one of a number of unnecessarily lurid flashbacks served up by Chadwick. The young Maruge’s wife and two children were killed by the Brits, depicted in excruciating detail.
The old man’s presence at the school attracts the attention of local and international media, fuelling the controversy. He’s forced to attend a school for adults, a useless exercise, and Jane circumvents her bosses by hiring him as a teacher’s assistant.
She receives threatening calls, her marriage to Charles (Tony Kgoroge), an ambitious Nairobi-based consultant, is plunged into crisis, and a government flunky and local thugs try to extort money from Maruge.
A former TV newsreader and occasional actor, Litondo is impressive in his movie debut, infusing the character with a quiet dignity and steely determination.
Ms Harris is fine as the head teacher, allowing hints of self-doubt and vulnerability to show beneath her plucky, stoic exterior.
The credits say 'based on a true story" so I think it’s fair to assume Ms Peacock took a lot of dramatic license in depicting several events which seem highly improbable. And she can’t resist having her characters frequently deliver preachy statements about the value of education.
If there’s a singular voice or over-arching thread in Peacock’s work, I’ve yet to see it in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Nights in Rodanthe, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl or this film.
Chadwick ladles out the pathos when a firmer, more restrained hand might have given the material greater resonance; still, he wasn’t noted for his subtlety as the director of The Other Boleyn Girl.
Shooting on location in the Rift Valley of Kenya using the local children and villagers enhances the film’s realism and Rob Hardy’s cinematography features some stunning images, although he shows a strange predilection for arty, out-of-focus shots.
The First Grader is well intentioned and aims to be heart-warming and inspiring; it didn’t need to be mawkish.
