Lopez, Ryan G.

12 – STEM Optimistic

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: Reaction Paper

“The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind” is based on a true story about a 13-year-
old boy, William Kamkwamba, who lives in a poor village in Malawi, Africa, ravaged
by famine.

William is expelled from school because his family can't afford it. He sneaks
into the library, where he learns how to build a windmill, hoping to bring water to his
village and eventually save it from drought and anti-government political unrest. The
story follows the political upheaval in Africa when William and his family lost their
land to the government and their crops to another city. The family is at the point
where only one person can eat a day, and it hasn't rained for months, preventing
plants from growing. People became desperate and some died . The film has strong
acting throughout, even though the film's director tried too hard to make some
moments too dramatic, and it turned out to be cheap. The film grabbed my attention
and took me on an emotional roller coaster, although some parts were confusing to
me. For example, with every death, dancing ghosts appear, which is not explained in
the movie. Much of the film is conducted in Chichewa, a commonly used language in
Malawi. Because of this, most of the scenes in the film are subtitled, but the various
Chichewa words appear on the screen, with their English translations below, making
the film a fun experience. Movie-related words such as "hunger" and "harvest."

At the end of the film, an explanation is given of what happened to William and
his family. William received a scholarship to continue his studies and eventually
graduated from Dartmouth College in the United States. His windmill went viral,
prompting William to tell his story in a TED talk. William kept sending money and
bringing more technology to his village, where his family still lived, and his sister
married a professor and had children.