Review: A SMALL ACT - Sincere & Inspiring Documentary

rating: 3.5

From Jennifer Arnold (director of the wonderfully quirky American Mullet) comes A Small Act, the story Chris Mburu who as a young Kenyan was given the opportunity to go to secondary school by a donation from a Swedish school teacher named Hilde Back. Later Chris would attend Harvard University and become a Human Rights lawyer for the UN. Chris would later track down the woman who had given him the lift he needed as a child and name a scholarship for gifted young Kenyan after her. The film follows three prospective scholarship students who cannot afford school fees in the run up to the crucial exams which will determine whether they can go to secondary school at all. The most impressive aspect of A Small Act is the way it cleverly balances several interweaving stories into one coherent argument. Hilde, a Jew, was helped to escape from Nazi Germany by a complete stranger and she subsequently, by just a small donation, was the key to fundamentally changing someone's life. Chris' journey from small village to United Nations office and his human rights work across the globe is somehow a beacon of hope to the desperate stories of the three young students whose failure or success in their coming exams determines not just their immediate future but their entire lives in a way which we in Britain could scarcely imagine. While the film looks to focus on individuals and their tales it does a good job of locating their issues in a greater context. At one point while visiting Sweden, Chris gets a call that parts of Kenya have rapidly descended into civil war and suddenly the realisation that the stories of these three children are just a drop in the ocean. Yet the film manages not to get bogged down in politics or preaching because it is the central idea that little actions having enormous consequences which makes the film so accessible. Particularly it is the restraint which the film makers show which is so commendable. You never feel as if these issues are being shoved down your throat or forced upon you but instead they are located in a story of hope rather than despair. It is refreshing to be treated like an adult; instead of crying celebrities we get to hear from people who truly understand the problems they face and the result is a documentary where you leave the cinema feeling better informed of the issues at work but also hugely uplifted by a terrific, heartfelt story. A Small Act is on limited U.S. release from today.