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The story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau terrorist who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.
31 August 1962, London, England, UK
10 January 1974, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
6 September 1976, London, England, UK
March 21, 2017
This appealing mixture of contention and inspiration becomes a feel-good story that will make you shed a tear, then grin ear to ear.
May 27, 2011
The First Grader is every bit as inspiring and heart-warming as you'd expect.
May 26, 2011
The filmmaking is ... uneven, filled with charming picture-postcard scenes of smiling children and African sunshine that seem crafted for a different film than one with moments of horrific flashbacks.
February 23, 2012
Director Justin Chadwick's admirable effort manages to do more than inspire, educating auds with an important chapter in African history.
May 26, 2011
The story is uplifting in a predictably pro-education, antiwar, feel-good way, warmth and humor balancing the heavy moments.
January 19, 2012
The First Grader is a self-congratulatory and subtlety-free slog that makes saints of its protagonists, devils out of its antagonists and narcoleptics out of its audience.
December 15, 2011
With the melodrama cranked up as high as it is, it's hard to believe this was a true story.
January 27, 2012
achieves a poignant, humanist sincerity
January 14, 2013
An earnest "true story" that hits many of the expected importance-of- education grace notes, but never quite achieves a lump-in-your-throat reaction
November 24, 2011
An uplifting, romanticised and gently-paced film infused with the dry beauty of the Kenyan landscape and powered by the moist-eyed performance of Oliver Litondo in the title role
June 22, 2011
It's funny how 'real life' sometimes conforms so closely to hackneyed patterns of screenwriting.
May 20, 2011
Stow your cynicism and give this lesson in continuing education the response it deserves -- more than a polite clap, maybe even a sitting ovation.
