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Such a frustrating disappointment

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

One can not argue with true events so you must absorb the plot and then take a look at what is happening today in parts of Africa. The key is still respect for education because it is a threat to peace. The desire to learn is so deep in the main character--which has been a desire in many who did not have the opportunity. The movie also shows that youth can learn from seniors-therefore I would recommend it for middle school and up. I am so pleased to have been at home when this was shown on Showtime and will certainly encourage all literacy volunteers, teachers, and librarians to view it. Hats off to the director and production staff.

This is a wonderful and inspiring film. It's about a teacher and an eighty year old pupil who wants to learn to read who has never had a formal education. It's also about history, Africa, colonialism – it takes in a lot of diverse topics and it does it all rather well. It's not one of these syrupy films where all the villagers unite behind the teacher and her new elder pupil – in fact the opposite happens.The film has a distinctive African authenticity – the classroom, the village, the different tribal groupings... One only wishes there could be more films like this instead of the vapid drivel that we are being constantly offered (such as fantasy action films...)

This is a very moving account of actual events that took place 2003-2005, with a little poetic license in the retelling. The principle actors are brilliant, but some of the other characters are a little overdrawn. However, I think this kind of caricature may be derived from Kenyan culture.I thoroughly enjoyed the character development as well as the pacing of the story. It is also set in dramatic Kenyan landscapes which are enthralling. Having visited Kenya briefly in 2006, this brought back a lot of good memories of the country and the people. The smiles of the children you see amid the poverty is exactly how I remember it. As others have said, it isn't a movie for children, but should be on the "to watch" list for adolescents and adults.

First, let me say this was a very engrossing tale. It's very difficult not to be sympathetic to the lead character, an 84-year old man who wants a basic education. But my antenna went up about 1/4 of the way into the movie when they start exploring the main characters Mau-Mau past. Wasn't Barak Obama's grandfather a Mau-Mau? Why yes! I believe he was! Then about 3/4 of the way through the movie my BS alert went into overdrive when one of the "extras" excitedly mentions Michelle Obama. And I finally realized, at the end, when another tangential character (stolen from the movie "Vanishing Point; Cleavon Little's "Super Soul") asks, "What's next? A black man in the White House?" Remember -- this movie was made two full years after there WAS a black man in the White House. So there was no predicting here; just celebrating. And the point of the movie? You be the judge. But I'm guessing it was a lot less about the on-screen story than the selling of an off-screen one. Just my opinion, of course. Just remember, the movie was a production of the propaganda department - the BBC - of a socialist government.