The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Directed by Cheiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor

Starring: Maxwell Simba as William Kamkwamba,

Cheiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor,

& Lily Banda

The idea of this film is taken from the book of the same name.

Available on Netflix

A review

By Steve Halpern

Recently I viewed the powerful and moving film, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The director and one of the stars in the film is Cheiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor. Ejiofor is an experienced actor, and also portrayed Solomon Northup in the film, Twelve Years a Slave.

This is the story of 13 year-old William Kamkwamba, who lived in a small farming village in Malawi. Malawi is a landlocked African country bordered by Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.

The theme of this film begins with Kamkwamba being expelled from school because his parents could not afford to pay the tuition of $80 per year. In spite of this setback, Kamkwamba utilized a bare bones library to begin to understand the basic principals of wind-powered turbines. Then, he, his friends, and family managed to get materials from a junk yard, as well as wood from local trees, to build a wind-powered generator that irrigated the crops on his family’s farm.    

While that is the theme of the story, the background to Kamkwamba’s accomplishment gives us a unique view of what life is like for hundreds of millions of people in the world. In real life, Kamkwamba experienced five months when his family barely had enough food to eat. In the film, Kamkwamba’s beloved dog starved to death.

We also see in the film how many farmers in this village felt compelled to sell their land, because they didn’t feel there was a future in farming. The corporation that purchased this land cut down trees that would be sold on the market.

Because there were fewer trees, flooding became a more serious problem and farming became more difficult. In nations like Malawi, people also cut down trees for fuel to cook food. While we just turn on the stove to heat our food, people all over the world need to collect wood to cook their food.

Then, we see one of the elders of this village protesting this sale of land and asked for government support. He was beaten and eventually died of his wounds. This is the kind of corruption we see in nations where the people live on the knife-edge of survival.

Then, we see a meeting of Kamkwamba and his father with someone who works for a corporation that profits from the sale of farm products. Kamkwamba’s father asked for assistance to keep his farm running after a poor harvest. We might keep in mind a few facts about farming while considering this meeting.

Even when farmers use the most efficient farming methods, they, at times, rely on government support. While farmers supply humanity with all the food we eat, they are subject to unpredictable weather conditions. However, when Kamkwamba’s father asked this official for support, that official was adamant in refusing this legitimate request for assistance.

Then, we see how the entire region where Kamkwamba lived became desperate to obtain food. While Kamkwamba’s family had an insufficient crop and needed to ration their food, much of that food was stolen by people who were starving.

Under these conditions, Kamkwamba was able to build his wind-powered generator that irrigated his family’s land during the dry season. I’m no farmer, but I understand that farmers who have an irrigation system have a real advantage over farmers who rely completely on the weather in order to water their crops.

In real life, Kamkwamba’s achievement became famous. He received the resources that allowed him to complete his basic education in Malawi. Then, he received a full scholarship at Dartmouth College, and now is building more wind and solar powered generators in his homeland.

While this is a compelling story, there is another story this film doesn’t attempt to portray. That is the extreme disparity between the reality of Malawi and the reality of developed nations like the United States of America.

While the people of Malawi were desperate in their search for food, much of the food in this country is thrown out. This food is being destroyed while about fifty million people in the United States routinely live in hunger. While hundreds of millions of people in the world don’t have enough food to eat, the government in this country spends hundreds of billions of dollars on the so-called defense department. This money has been used to go to war against some of the poorest people in the world.

America First?

Recently President Trump refused to pay about 800,000 federal workers for about one entire month. He did this because congress and the senate refused to allocate billions of dollars in funding to extend a wall on the southern border of the United States.

This is a clear example of how President Trump has made the scapegoating of immigrant workers the center of his political priorities. These same immigrant workers are the ones who work on farms, and in restaurants to provide everyone in this country with the food we need. They also work in some of the most technical jobs of research and development, as well as health care.

Recently Michael Cohen a former lawyer for President Trump testified before Congress. He argued that the President is a liar and a racist. While all of this was happening, President Trump threatened the people of Venezuela because he doesn’t like the President that they elected.

After all of this, the President spoke to a conservative meeting where he started by embracing the flag of the United States. While his politics were being denounced all over the world, Trump appeared to be happy. Why?

When we look at the military campaigns the flag of this country has been used for, we might begin to see why President Trump appeared to be happy. We can start with the genocide against Native Americans. Then, there was the horrendous institution of chattel slavery. While the Civil War brought an end to slavery, the armed forces were then used to defend the institution of Jim Crow segregation that denied Black people citizenship rights. Then, there were the wars against the people of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Those wars were a nightmare to the people of those countries.

However, while all these horror stories were taking place, school boards throughout this country asked children to stand up every morning, to place their hands on their hearts, and pledge allegiance to a flag they claimed represented liberty and justice for all.

So President Trump was happy and even ecstatic because he sees how all the horror stories of the world allow him and a few hundred others to sit on billions of dollars worth of assets. He also understands that while the democrats might argue against his policies, they are also tied firmly to the capitalist system. As long as this is the case, he has nothing serious to fear from his so-called Democratic Party opposition.

Junkyard parts and satellites that circle the globe

When I looked at the primitive wind generator and pump Kamkwamba built out of junkyard parts, I thought about the advanced technology we all take for granted in this country. We take for granted that we have access to both electricity and running water. Most of us have an automobile that gives us a considerable amount of flexibility. We also have cell phones that receive signals from satellites in the atmosphere.

Understanding this reality, I believe it is reasonable to say that the resources exist to eliminate hunger and poverty in the world. Today, people who live in nations like Malawi justifiably resent the fact that corporations from developed nations profit off of their dire poverty. If working people in this country used the immense resources here to give basic assistance to the nations that desperately need it, those attitudes would begin to change.

Because we live in a capitalist political economic system, giving sustained and meaningful aid to impoverished nations is out of the question. The reality has been that factories in this country have closed, and moved to nations where wages are between $1 and $10 per day. This transfer of wealth has saved the international capitalist system from complete collapse. However, that collapse will not be postponed forever.

For me the film, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind gives us an idea of the ingenuity that workers and farmers have under some of the most dire conditions. I believe that understanding this, we can also say that the working people of the world have the capacity to deal with the immense challenges we will face. Yes, we can develop a mass movement that demands that new governments make a priority of human needs and not profits.