AFTER “Breaking Dawn” abjectly failed to convince me that movie-reviewing is fun, “The First Grader” was a profound palate cleanser, an intense, delightful, sympathetic rendering of the verifiable story of how, at age 84, a former Mau Mau guerilla went to school to learn how to read a letter he had kept for more than four decades.

Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge died in 2009, before this film was finished, but after addressing the UN General Assembly about education in third world countries.

Oliver Litondo plays him with dignity and conviction.

Naomie Harris is a joy to watch as the principal of a small school implementing Kenya’s official policy of universal education. Ann Peacock’s sometimes formulaic but always perceptive screenplay gives wonderful opportunities to interact with delightful children, adults living simple rural lifestyles, obstinate bureaucracy blindly following regulations and British military brutality. Justin Chadwick’s direction is firm-handed rather than flamboyant.

“The First Grader” will please all people of compassion and goodwill. The only plot information I’m giving is in the first paragraph of this review. Watching it without an advance plot précis will, I’m confident, strengthen its impact. Pulling no punches as its structure moves between the 21st century and the third quarter of the 20th, it has a measure of predictability but the sting in its tail may come close to breaking your heart.

At Greater Union