HBO Documentary - a Small Act - Reviewed

The HBO documentary A Small Act should have been a good film. It's about a compelling subject: A Swedish teacher named Hilde Back contributed $15 a month to educate a poor student in Kenya from an impoverished village. The stipend allowed the student Chris Mburu, to continue with his studies and eventually win a scholarship to Harvard, and become a lawyer. Today Chris Mburu is a U.N official working for a U.N. human rights division. He started his own foundation to educate impoverished children in Kenya and named it The Hilde Back Education Fund, after the woman whose small contribution enabled his high educational achievement.

The film lacks the cold calculating hand of a prudent editor. A Small Act could have been stripped to 20 minutes instead of its 2 hour length without missing any of its key storyline. The film follows a couple of the brightest students from Chris Mburu's Kenyan village as they try to qualify for the charity's scholarships. 15 minutes of the film are dedicated to Kenyan students awaiting the test scores that will enable the highest achievers to qualify for the scholarships that will lift them out of poverty. I think most Americans are familiar with the concept of waiting for test scores, making the segment excessively long.

Another 15 minutes is wasted on the discussion by the charity of what minimum grade level to establish for the scholarship winners, only to have the minimum standards abandoned because the students have underperformed on the test. This is high drama if you're the type that considers grading SATs exciting.

During the filming, tribal feuding resulting from a flawed election in Kenya led to massacres. This was a rare occurrence in Kenya which had a reputation for political stability. The film intermittently weaves footage of village election politicking, without creating a cohesive narrative about the massacres, or its causes, leaving the film's coverage of the issue disjointed.

So why was this amateurish film, selected by Sundance and the Edinburgh Film festivals as an official selection? It's a case of limousine liberals being too politically correct to distinguish the artistic merits of the film from the charity. Who wants to crack on a film about such an obviously worthy charity? I think that the filmmaker Jennifer Arnold knew this, which is why she put forward such a freshman effort.

In spite of its flaws A Small Act will result in added publicity for the Hilde Back Educational Fund, enabling many more highly motivated, impoverished Kenyans to receive an education. So skip the movie and contribute. http://www.hildebackeducationfund.com/

A much better HBO documentary is 12^th & Delaware, currently on HBO, on demand. Read my review here at:

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