The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

2019 1h 53m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 1,929

DramaHistory

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Against all the odds, a thirteen year old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Maxwell Simba
William Kamkwamba
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Trywell Kamkwamba
Aïssa Maïga
Agnes Kamkwamba
Lily Banda
Annie Kamkwamba
Joseph Marcell
Chief Wembe
Lemogang Tsipa
Mike Kachigunda
Philbert Falakeza
Gilbert Wimbe
Noma Dumezweni
Edith Sikelo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Writers: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Languages: Chichewa; Nyanja, English
Countries: Malawi, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Chichewa; Nyanja, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Malawi, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, shot by Dick Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Antonio Pinto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Valerio Bonelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Maxwell Simba and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Aïssa Maïga carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt7533152 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chiwetel Ejiofor directs. Dick Pope behind the camera. Antonio Pinto scores. Valerio Bonelli cuts. Produced in Malawi, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Chichewa; Nyanja, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 7 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Chichewa; Nyanja, English.
3International production across 3 countries: Malawi, United Kingdom, United States of America.
4Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, shot by Dick Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Antonio Pinto. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Valerio Bonelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Maxwell Simba and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Aïssa Maïga carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt7533152 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "africa", "windmill", "based on true story", "family power struggle".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dick Pope
Original score: Antonio Pinto
Editing: Valerio Bonelli
Production design: Tulé Peak
Costume design: Bia Salgado
Makeup / hair: Francesca Van Der Feyst
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)

Awards

NYICFF Grand Prize
Alfred P. Sloan Prize

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-03-28
★ 7/10
This is a great looking film depicting the abject poverty, despite their best efforts, of a subsistence farming community in Malawi. The cinematography is glorious as we follow the Kamkwamba family's struggles to educate their children and feed themselves at the same time - in the face of some pretty brutal government corruption and a severe drought. Son "William" (Maxwell Simba) is thirteen, and he has more than an average degree of nouse to him - he concludes, after studying a few engineering books in his school's library - that by cannibalising an old bike and an old ghetto-blaster, he can create a turbine mechanism that could be used to generate electrical power to pump water and help them to improve their harvest, and their lives... Chiwitel Ejiofor is his rather sceptical father, struggling under the pressures of keeping his family alive and the two have quite a forceful battle of wills as the young man attempts to convince his father that sacrificing the family's only mode of transport is a risk worth taking! I found the establishing parts of the story a bit too slow; once I understood the extent of their predicament and what the young man was trying to do, I was itching for him to succeed - and the behaviour of the father I found irritating and incongruous, slightly, with a man so keen on educating his family. That said, once it starts to focus on the project, I was astonished by the ingenuity of "William" and his young student friends as they materially change the lives of their famines for ever. It's a good film this - a try triumph of optimism over experience that I largely enjoyed watching.

Production companies