Review of THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND  – 1 hr. 53 mins

This humble opinion is brought to by you T. K. Edwards

THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND  – 1 hr. 53 mins

Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Felix Lemburo, Aissa Maiga, Lily Banda

A boy in Malawi helps his village by building a wind turbine after reading about them in a library book.

NO SPOILERS BELOW

I love it when movies surprise me.  It rarely happens these days, but when it does…I absolutely love it!  THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND was not on my “watch” list, nor was it one that I particularly wanted to see, but now that I did – I am so happy.  And I know the Oscars were held just recently and it may be too early to say this, but in my humble opinion if this movie does not get nominated for any awards later this year, then something is going on in Hollywood and the awards don’t carry the merit that everyone thinks they do.  Here are the reasons why it would NOT get any recognition and coincidentally, they are the same reasons why THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND is such a fantastic movie.

• The cast is entirely comprised of unknown actors.
• There is not one single white person in the movie.
• The story is beautiful and powerful, but very simple.
• It brings to light world issues that people don’t want to acknowledge.
• It is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s first feature film as a director.
• There are no special effects or elaborate costumes.
• The movie was very inexpensive to make.
• 60% of the movie is spoken in Chichewa and the other 40% is spoken in English.
• It’s a Netflix movie.

Now, THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND is only going to be in theaters for a short time, then it will be strictly on Netflix only.  So my suggestion would be to go to the theater as soon as you can to see it on the big screen, but if you miss it and you are a Netflix subscriber…don’t worry because you will have plenty of time to see it at home whenever you want to.  But I will say this…my suggestion is to watch this movie. It truly is rare to see something as special as THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND. Not only does the story deserve telling, but it’s the cast that will hook you. Everyone…and I mean EVERYONE! in this movie provide exceptional performances and because you have never seen them in anything mainstream, they get you on so many different emotional levels.  And I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t give a special shout out to Chiwetel for his role in this film. He is amazing! I am a huge fan of his and love his movies (REDBELT, SERENITY, DR. STRANGE, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, just to name a few.). Do yourself a favor and watch THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND. It truly is a diamond in the rough. Until next time, thanks for reading.

P.S. – There is no post credit scene.  None required