Film: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

This has been on my watch list for so long. I suspect the recommendation came after reading The Kite Runner, a brilliant book that I couldn't bring myself to watch the film of. Based on the true story of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba, who builds a wind turbine to save his Malawian village from famine, I thought it might be lighter. It is not.

Heartbreaking from the start, and I almost wanted to put it on fast forward, like you can on YouTube, just to get to the end faster. Which is saying something, given I already knew how it ended. The tension was immense throughout, and that is the sign of a good film.

William Kamkwamba is portrayed brilliantly by Maxwell Simba, and I found myself searching for the real William on social media the moment it finished. He reminded me of my nephew as a child, the kind of boy who could pull together anything electrical and make it work. I found myself wondering what my nephew might have achieved had he followed his youthful engineering ambitions.

On reflection, it also reminds me of Bill Gates as I’m currently reading his memoir Source Code, that same obsessive, singular drive to make something work.

Written, directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, and a remarkable directorial debut at that.

And it has only strengthened my desire to visit Africa, a continent that, well travelled as I am, I have never been to. Putting that right this year, starting with a birthday in Cape Town.

7½/10