Ann Peacock Movies

An educator must stand up for the rights of an unusual student in this drama from director Justin Chadwick, which is based on a true story. In 2002, the government of Kenya announces that free education will be available to the nation's children for the first time, and as principal Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) enrolls hundreds of new first grade students in her ramshackle school, she's greeted by one prospective student who stands out -- N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo), who is 84 years old. Maruge is illiterate and wants the chance to improve himself before it's too late; Obinchu initially turns him away, but Maruge isn't easily dissuaded, and after he keeps returning to the school Obinchu agrees to let him enroll. When word gets out that an octogenarian farmer is attending Obinchu's school as a first grader, many in the community are puzzled and outraged, and the news media picks up on the story, turning it into a nationwide controversy. But Maruge stands firm, and as others learn his remarkable story -- he was a rebel soldier who fought for Kenya's freedom during the colonial era -- his need to educate himself no longer seems like the eccentric whim of an old man. The First Grader was an official selection at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Producer Julia Roberts brings the American Girl brand to the big screen for the very first time with this inspirational tale concerning a nine-year-old girl named Kit Kittredge (Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin) growing up during the Great Depression. Though the American Girls have previously appeared on the small screen in Samantha: An American Girl Holiday, Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, and Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front, Kit's adventure marks the very first major theatrical endeavor for the characters created by author Valerie Tripp. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The many emotional scars left by South Africa's history of institutionalized racism come under the microscope in this drama. As South Africa comes to terms with the legacy of apartheid, their government has created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in which the perpetrators of racial violence and injustice must come face to face with their victims if they are to be forgiven for their crimes. Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is an African-American journalist who is assigned to cover these hearings by The Washington Post; Whitfield doubts the efficacy of this process, and sets out to interview Col. De Jager (Brendan Gleeson), a notorious former officer of the South African police who was famous for his violence against blacks in order to put this method to the test. While in South Africa, Whitfield meets Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), an Afrikaner poet who is covering the hearing for a radio station and is both appalled and disturbed by the details of the violence inflicted against her countrymen. After striking up a friendship, Whitfield and Malan become romantically involved as they try to come to terms with their feelings about what they've learned. Also screened under the title Country of My Skull, In My Country was adapted from a book by South African author Antjie Krog. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi