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The First Grader: When Education Is A Luxury
 

Any movie that makes education seem like a luxury is a film every child should see.

Every child — and for that matter, every grown-up — should see The First Grader, because in watching one human being struggle to rise from the dust of illiteracy with resolve and dedication, we not only learn to appreciate the preciousness of our access to education, we feel the profound emotional impact of realized potential.

The First Grader tells the tale of Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo).

Maruge wants to go to school and learn to read and write. The good news is that it's 2003 and even in the remote village where Maruge lives, the Kenyan government is proclaiming education a right for all. After decades of violent strife and the casting off of British rule, education is coming to the land of the Mau Mau uprising. The only obstacle for Maruge is that he is an 84 year-old Kikuyu tribesman.

Even though Maruge can’t read, he believes he has a right to education.

When Maruge shows up to register for classes at the new village school, the head teacher, Jane (Naomie Harris), at first tells him it's impossible. The man has a thirst for learning, but the local school is already over-crowded with kids. They have no place for an old man but Maruge, himself a Mau Mau who was imprisoned and tortured for years after defying British rule, keeps dragging his stooped body back to the school grounds.

 

When she tells him he needs a pencil and paper, he returns the next day with supplies. When she tells him he needs a school uniform, he sits down to sew up a pair of short pants and a cardigan. Eventually she relents and Maruge — who doesn't even know how to hold his new pencil — is admitted to the school and settles into a small desk alongside people half his size.

But his fight for the right of education is far from over. The district superintendent battles Teacher Jane over Maruge's right to be there. The superintendent wants Maruge to attend a big-city adult school that is filled with rowdy teens who ignore their teachers, but Maruge wants to stay in the village school. Then the villagers turn against the old man, fearing he's taking resources from their own children.

 

On the one hand, Maruge is the perfect poster octogenarian for education. On the other, he's rocking the boat of opportunity by taking a seat a child might otherwise occupy and the audience is forced to weigh the sacrifices of one generation against the rights of another.

The film evolves into a story of new hope fighting to survive against instantly entrenched bureaucracy, prejudice — there are still plenty of tribal resentments — and, obviously, ageism.

Though Maruge eventually settles in at school the film doesn’t end on a typical Hollywood style happy ending. Maruge brain still burns at times with post-traumatic stress syndrome and he flashes back to the brutal treatment that caused the young Maruge to rise up in rebellion.

This isn't "The King's Speech", the British overlords are absolutely monstrous and it really hits home that the injustices in Africa are not over. Yes, it's a stand-up-and-cheer movie, but it's also a film that considers what the cheering is all about.
Posted by Stephen Todd in Education for column Issue Analysis on Nov 22nd 2011, 14:18
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