When the government of Kenya in 2000 offered a free primary-school education for all, officials had no way of knowing that an 84-year-old man would apply to join 6-year-olds in a village school. But Maruge, a hobbling octogenarian who in his youth fought the country’s British colonizers, turns up at the school, demanding to learn to read and write.
His story, based on real events, unfolds in the British drama “The First Grader,” directed by Justin Chadwick for the BBC and National Geographic Entertainment. At first, the school’s principal, Jane Obinchu, turns Maruge away, but she relents when he returns wearing a makeshift school uniform. Her decision angers many parents, who feel that by helping the old man she is depriving their children of an education.
In flashbacks, we learn that Maruge was tortured by the British in the 1950s.
Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl”) gets strong performances from Oliver Musila Litondo as Maruge (he started his career as a news reader for a Kenyan station) and Naomie Harris as Jane. And the cinematography, by Rob Hardy, is pretty.
Too bad the script is predictable at every turn.