Small one becomes a Queen
Fresh take on underdog story
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/10/2016 (3593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
In this family-friendly, true-life tale of a chess prodigy from a Ugandan shantytown, the feel-good Disney sports movie gets a boost from director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Reluctant Fundamentalist), a filmmaker known for tackling tricky political topics.
Like 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, this crowd-pleaser is bolstered by intelligent scripting, crafted direction and strong performances, making the uplift feel earned.
Phiona Mutesi (newcomer Madina Nalwanga) lives in the Kampala shantytown of Katwe, selling maize to help feed her brothers and support her widowed mother, Harriet (Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave). Phiona can’t afford school, but when she starts hanging around the chess club run by Christian mission worker Robert Katende (Selma’s David Oyelowo), he realizes her gift with the game might just change her life.
The underdog kid, a temporary setback, training sequences, the dedicated coach, the ultimate triumph — all the standard beats are here, along with occasional slips into outright cliché. But these familiar tropes are given richness and texture with a smart screenplay from William Wheeler (based on the ESPN Magazine article and book by Tim Crothers) and Nair’s passionate immersion in her location, which allows her to offer hope without minimizing Phiona’s hardships.
Queen of Katwe is about an extraordinary young woman, but it’s also about her everyday community, a place where even a small setback — an injury, an illness, bad weather — can become a dire threat. The Indian-born, American-based Nair digs herself in, giving us not the generalized, pitying depiction of African poverty that is often seen in big Hollywood movies, but a specific picture of this neighbourhood’s vibrancy.
Oyelowo and Nyong’o bring lots of marquee value — thank goodness the studio didn’t feel the need for a “white saviour” character to supposedly broaden the movie’s appeal — but they use their star power modestly. Oyelowo’s inspirational chess speech, which involves a funny story about a dog and a cat, is better than any halftime locker-room talk I’ve seen on screen.
Meanwhile, Nyong’o invests Harriet with both vulnerability and fierce strength. She is hopeful for her children, but also fearful, recognizing that Phiona’s glimpse of another world has caused her to become dissatisfied with her own and that she might end up stranded between the two, “like a ghost that cannot rest.”
With this kind of support, newcomer Nalwanga is able to shine. She imbues Phiona with watchful, serious self-possession, so when she does smile it’s like the sun coming out.
The filmmakers don’t get hung up on the nuances of individual matches — chess is difficult to dramatize on film — and instead use the game as a metaphor. When Phiona first comes to the club, she asks what the pieces do and is told by one small girl that “they kill each other.” Chess is a serious matter for these children, and they learn its tactics just as every day they must learn to plan and strategize — to help their families, to get enough to eat, to avoid being robbed while carrying home water.
As one of the young players points out, in chess, the pawn can become a queen: “The small one can become the big one.” It says a lot that Queen of Katwe’s filmmakers and cast take what could have been a trite inspirational message and make it feel so fresh and true.
alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca
Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.
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Movie Review
- Queen of Katwe
- Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o and Madina Nalwanga
- Grant Park
- G
- 124 minutes
- Four stars out of five
Other voices
Queen of Katwe’s originality comes not in its story but in its setting, explored by Nair with her usual skill at establishing a sense of place.
— Dana Stevens, Slate
The Queen of Katwe is a sports movie for people who don’t like sports movies. A tear-jerker for those who don’t like tear-jerkers. An inspirational story for those who don’t like inspirational stories.
— Laura DeMarco, Cleveland Plain Dealer
The story is true, and the message it delivers — with care and help, the disenfranchised can become role models and inspire others — is unabashedly sentimental, but in a good way.
— Rex Reed, New York Observer
If there is anyone out there capable of remaining unmoved by this true-life triumph-of-the-underdog sports story, I don’t think I want to meet that person.
— A.O. Scott, New York Times
Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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