Malawi true story ‘The boy who harnessed the wind’ on Netflix 1 March

Netflix, the world’s leading streaming site  is on March 1 2019 set to release a movie titled ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,’ based on a true story of a 32-year-old Malawian,William Kamkwamba.

A scene from the movie
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is available to stream on Netflix from March 1, 2019.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Chiwetel Ejiofor skilfully moves between charm and poignance. Photograph: Ilze Kitshoff/Netflix
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: The newest Netflix film is directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Image: Netflix)

Based on the book of the same name, the movie will also have a limited cinematic run in  from February 2 2019.

The movie is currently screening for its global debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

Netflix’s movie synopsis reads: “Adapted from the bestselling book by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind follows 13-year-old William Kamkwamba (newcomer Maxwell Simba) who is thrown out of the school he loves when his family can no longer afford the fees.

“Sneaking back into the school library, he finds a way, using the bones of the bicycle belonging to his father Trywell (Chiwetel Ejiofor), to build a windmill which then saves his Malawian village from famine.

“The emotional journey of a father and his exceptional son at its heart, William’s tale captures the incredible determination of a boy whose inquisitive mind overcame every obstacle in his path.”

The‘12 Years a Slave’ star, Chiwetel Ejiofor directed the movie.

Ejiofor said he was enthused by the book and wanted get the entire sense of it.

“To get emotional truth of the story, I spent a lot of time with William.

“I came to Malawi to experience the book from the actual ground. I met his family, friends and saw the village where everything took place.

“William, his family and people live these incredibly epic lives and that was something that I really found in the book. It’s an epic story,” said Ejiofo.

In its review, The Guardian UK newspaper wrote  that while Ejiofor does pitch the film at a broad audience, he makes a key decision not to force his characters to always speak English. They oscillate between English and Chichewa, mostly using the latter, and at a time when too many film-makers are choosing to avoid subtitles, even when telling fact-based stories from foreign countries, it’s hugely refreshing.

“There’s an interesting throughline, rarely seen on screen, of tradition v modernity in rural Africa, of parents deliberately eschewing what they perceive to be dated belief systems of the past to encourage progress. They don’t want to rely on praying for rain to save their crops; they want pragmatism instead. It’s also reflected in a desire for education so that children can leave their village, determined that they won’t be facing similar hardships as adults,” reads the review.

Kamkwamba said  he did not even dream of being a hero of some sort or that his story could be told in a movie.

“It’s very exciting to me because at the time that I was writing the book I wanted to reach out to as many people as possible. Having this chance of getting this story into a movie is going to reach more people than the book could have managed to do,”he explained.

Kamkwamba added that a  movie with Netflix will enable a lot of people to access the story and learn from it.

Netflix is a leader in home entertainment, whatever genre of movie you feel like.  For anyone wanting to know the best horror movies on Netflix – Newstrail is the best source to read.

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Linda LOVE
Linda LOVE
5 years ago

THIS movie does not represent William nor Malawi. 90% of the cast are foreigners. The leading act, is a damn Kenyan amateur who is speaking bad bad Chichewa. WHY not just taking a young Malawian boy who wouldn’t have faired any worse? Just because its a Malawian story then you saturate the movie with foreign acts sidelining the numerous and able actors we have in our country, go to hell with your dumb movie!! William did he really consulted you? So you were okay with that? And I don’t want anyone to pinpoint that this movieis will put us on… Read more »

An Objective Malawian
An Objective Malawian
5 years ago
Reply to  Linda LOVE

Linda, when one comes up with such a project, they consider the following among many other issues: 1. Casting crew and characters. They need the movie to be a success,as such, they take in a majority of actors they know and are familiar with, they have to be sure they won’t disappoint.you can not take a countryman/woman whom you have to train for months just to please the country you are casting in. Remember, they invested money and all had to be cost effective 2. Time: No training time but rehearsing was available as stipulated in 1 above, that is… Read more »

Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo
5 years ago

Why not appoint Kamkwamba our goodwill ambassador? As a country we can exploit his fame.

Mangochi kabwafu
Mangochi kabwafu
5 years ago

Just there to expose poverty.

Nyankhoma
Nyankhoma
5 years ago

Our pride indeed. I plead with zodiak and times tv to please reproduce the film for us nkhalamba with no idea about these streaming things

Big Man
5 years ago

Kungotayisana Nthawi basi

Chilunga
Chilunga
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Man

Sanje idzakupha Big Man. Lozani zanu man

Le Senor de Los Cielos
Le Senor de Los Cielos
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Man

A Big Man.. 1. Anzanu akamapanga bwino kumayamika. Nanunso zizakuyenderani. We live in a world of duality: (cause and effect). What you put out there (good or bad), comes back multiplied a thousand times. I am sure anthu ambiri (yours truly included) would love to watch the William Kamkwamba story. Inuyo ngati simufuna kuwonera, mukanangokhala duu, nobody would have even known you existed ndi mtima wanu wa nsanje’wo. 2. Ngati mulibe subscription ya Netflix, tangopemphani tiguwareni ma login details kuti nanu muwonere ngati muli ndi data. Koma just bear in mind kuti 4K video (Ultra High Definition) on Netflix uses… Read more »

Holly Tit
Holly Tit
5 years ago

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 Señor de Los Cielos, tamuuze Big Man 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nagama
5 years ago

Well our boy so proud of you. And wish you all the best.

MCHACHA
MCHACHA
5 years ago

It is a nice movie, very inspirational. And it helped in exposing our local talented actors. I wish we had cinemas in Malawi to watch the premier of this movie

M'malawi wa nthanzi
M'malawi wa nthanzi
5 years ago

Its good to hear the story is put in a movie. I once watched the documentary about it so touching, i hope the movie is well executed too.

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