Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s ”How to build a library“May be more appropriate the title,” how to play the system. “This is not intended as a cuddly, but simply the reality as documentaryCentral figures, Angela Wachuka and Wanjiru ‘Shiro’ Koinange, work to raise money, happy hand and reshape traditional library practice to create a decolonized space for Africans Young and old to grow, learn and connect. Noble as their endeavor may seem, after five years of inroads with politicians, many of the values they had at the beginning of film does not necessarily remain intact of its conclusion.
“How to build a library” starts in 2017. Shiro and Wachuka is a writer/publishing duo who cooperates to form Book Bunk, a “social stroke company” built on the task of reviving the McMillan library in the center of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, and adjoining, and adjoining Branches in Makadara and Kaloleni. While the latter two libraries and their transformations are shown throughout the film, McMillan remains the main focus, both for its size and central location, but also because of the history it has.
Built in 1931 by white settlers, McMillan was not used by Africans until 1958. When Shiro and Wachuka tour it at the beginning of the film, they notice that bookshelves were doing tree trunks, magazines, chairs and desks stacked everywhere, no toilets, but more than anything else, a complete shortage of Kenyan culture and history. Instead, relics from colonialism adorn each wall. Most books that feed the shelves are from white writers and many have dated references to the African population.
The entire space acts as a perfect metaphor for a forgotten interest in education, but also the holding of the empire on generations. Som svarta kvinnor i den litterära världen har Shiro och Wachucka ett intresse av att ändra detta och förvandla McMillan till en premiärplats för afrikansk historisk och kulturutbyte, men när de kommer in i det snygga grymt av att få kontrakt undertecknat och åtaganden gjorda, lagen, lagen , The law to build a library becomes more about making others feel that they are responsible.
“They do not look at the larger image of developing senses,” says the main librarian at one point during a meeting with Shiro and Wachuka to discuss how to work with the government. With this knowledge, the two rude young women realize that their strategy must revolve around making people with the power to think about this library a new life was their idea completely. At Gala events that were hosted at McMillan to raise money, they make sure to place the limelight on individuals in the government, from an executive council member for training to the governor of Nairobi himself, who all clearly like to take credit, but are really Just in it for the stylish parties and photo opportunities.
What is at the same time impressive and disappointing is how good Shiro and Wachuka will be playing the game. Perhaps it will only as a result of the many delays that lawyers and others create for them or the general what is-for-mig attitude are both forced to fight with, but as their journey progresses and the fruits of their work starts to be flying, that is Clearly that this would have been impossible if it was not for their will and ability to work within an incredibly self -developed system. Often this work comes to the detriment of their own health and ultimately their entire values, as the work they do to enliven the nearby branches turns out to be so successful, it gets the British royal attention. King Charles himself ends up visiting one of the libraries during his visit to Kenya and while many of the staff want to draw a line in the sand to stop this event, Shiro and Wachuka know that it can threaten their ultimate goals.
Despite the first intention of its mission, the Empire’s continued grip on not only this institution, but on the individuals trying to take care of it proves a worrying composition. Even librarians who will work with Shiro and Wachuka to modernize how the libraries will organize their collection cannot help but feel bound to the Dewey Decimal system, which prioritizes European perspectives over Africans. As ironic as their defense of this system and struggles to adapt to a new one can work, it also speaks to the thematic nature of change in the film as a whole aims to capture. When we see what Shiro and Wachuka have managed to create – a home for African stories to be told by Africans – it is difficult to be worried about how this became more than just being moved, it managed to happen at all. Not only do children now see themselves reflected in where they come to learn, but also adults are given the opportunity to share their history and add the archive book Bunk to work to reshape.
When it comes to how the story is told, Lekow and King work hard to stay as objectively as possible while still centering Shiro and Wachuka’s personal travel. Sometimes the presentation reminds Spike Lee documentaries such as “when Levees broke” and “NYC EPICENTERS 9/11 -> 2021 1/2,” Both in its use of a horn point that evokes Terence Blanchard and how it is in archive films and pictures to expand what is told in the present.
In the end, while Kaloleni and Makadara complete their constructions, McMillan’s renovations remain unfinished by the end of “how to build a library”, even if funds were collected and the governor approved plans. At the same time, in 2024, major protests broke out in Kenya over rising taxes and corruption. End the film in this way, without resolution and another conflict that potentially blocks Shiro and Wachuka from seeing their vision through, mixed with the complicated undertones around Shiro and Wachuka which are part of the system itself that their landers protest, the tragic viewer protests in Scary territory It muds the documentary’s overall intention.
Rating: B-
“How to build a library” premiered at 2025 Sundance Film festival. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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