BY IKENNA OBIOHA
“The book spoke to me on so many levels. I didn’t know if I could just (enjoy) that … and then have somebody else do it.” – Chiwetal Ejiofor on The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
As the world patiently awaits his rendition of the character Scar in 2019’s remake of The Lion King, 12 Year a Slave lead actor Chiwetal Ejiofor is set to release his new drama film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to Netflix come March 1. The movie sees the British actor in his debut directorial and screenplay role, he also plays a role as an actor in the movie – a move most would term ‘triple threat’.
Relaying the real life struggles faced by the resilient Malawian born William Kamkwamba whose village is plagued with famine that forces him out of school, Kamkwamba’s love for engineering nudges him to conceive plans towards building a windmill system that delivers potable water to his community, thus saving his rural village of Wimbe from drought and famine.
The journey to transform the memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (written by William Kamkwamba) to motion picture kicked off in 2011. To help project a good narrative, Ejiofor travels to Malawi to visit to Kamkwamba and his family. Overwhelmed with emotions seeing the windmill, Ejiofor makes an affirmative decision to shoot the movie where the actual story happened, although, minor adjustments were further made to adequately reflect Kamkwamba’s environment in the past.
“You’re coming along in this very rural area, and you suddenly see from a distance — the windmill. It’s a very emotional moment. It was one of the things that made me determined to shoot there. We shot in his cousin’s house, next door to William’s house, because William’s childhood home has (been renovated), so it doesn’t look like it did back then.”
Playing the role of Trywell Kamkwamba (William’s father), Ejiofor recalls the reaction he had after meeting Maxwell Simba who plays the boy version of William Kamkwamba. “It still shocks me,” he said Just like Abraham Attah (Beast of No Nation) and Zubaidat Ibrahim Fagge (Dry), Simba makes his acting debut on The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind .
His discovery in the audition process left a scouting Ejiofor impressed. “The casting of William is the film” he said in an interview with Newsday. It’s such a crucial thing to get right. But from his first audition tape I could see he was doing something (special). But I couldn’t work out whether that was accidental. I couldn’t figure out … how he knew to do what he was doing. He had a pretty sophisticated way of approaching text that I don’t think I learned till I was well into my acting life. So I flew to Nairobi to meet him and do workshops with him, and I realized, yes, Maxwell is not only smart, but has these depths of emotional intelligence. Which was absolutely wonderful — realizing I’d found somebody who could really carry the central part of the film.
The film not only shed light on the life of the protagonist but also manages to weave a narrative around the socioeconomic struggles that takes the form of land ownership disputes, political struggles and migration to seek a better livelihood in the wake of drought and famine.
Watch the trailer below
