Rather, the very Christ-like pattern of suffering, brokenness, and weakness mark the road that eventually leads to her emergence from abject poverty and obscurity into renown as a national hero and royal representative of her people. Nalwanga convincingly gives us a teenager caught in the formative years of life who establishes her figurative throne not by way of socially-acceptable physical beauty or by way of a handsome prince’s rescue… not even really because of her intelligence or keen moves on the chess board.
Newcomer Madina Nalwanga delivers quietly, yet forcefully as Phiona Mutesi, the alluded-to queen of the impoverished Ugandan province, Katwe. Lupita Nyong’o effectively executes the role of Nakku Harriet, the mother of the film’s titular character and the atypical matriarch whose faith and sacrificial love for her family grow despite a continuous and seemingly endless string of misfortunes that begin when her husband and the father of her four children dies unexpectedly.
William Wheeler’s screenplay adequately displays Katende’s internal moral struggle that eventuates in his rejection of an offer to undertake a successful engineering career to instead coach a team of social outcasts - i.e.
Here, we have the kind of creative and engaging expression of spirituality found in such recent works as 2015’s Selma and The Revenant and this year’s Hail Ceasar!, Hell or High Water, and Birth of a Nation.īased on true events as chronicled in the 2012 book Tim Crother published for ESPN, Katwe stars David Oyelowo as Robert Katende, a sports ministry leader who often opens chess matches with a word of prayer and employs culturally-significant parables as a means of motivating his players to persevere in the face of challenges both on and off the chess board. In veteran director Mira Nair’s vision, we see strands of references to faith organically and quietly pervading the film without ever becoming overbearing or overt. Just because you know what’s coming, doesn’t mean you won’t punch the air.ĭidn’t Walt Disney live-action films used to look like The Ugly Dachshund and The Cat from Outer Space? Watch out for the affecting final credits wherein cast members appear alongside their real world equivalents.Disney’s Queen of Katwe remains within the tradition of unintentional Christian filmmaking that prefers subtle nuances and unspoken demonstrations of conviction over tired clichés, recycled tropes, wooden characters, and soap-boxy platitudes positing overly simplistic answers to the complexities of life lived in a fallen world. Kudos to director Mira Nair, the talented Indian-American filmmaker behind Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay! for keeping it real and simultaneously fantastic.Ī triptych of tremendous central performances - David Oyelowo as Coach Katende, Madina Nalwanga as Phiona, Lupita Nyong’o as Phiona’s sceptical mama – helps, as does cinematographer Sean Bobbitt’s lively, multi-coloured brand of realism. That the film functions as an all-ages delight without diluting Mutesi’s shockingly deprived upbringing is remarkable. But what’s fascinating about this big-screen adaptation of Sports Illustrated journalist Tim Crother’s best-selling biography - The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster – is that it arrives in cinemas as family-friendly Disney movie, replete with sass-mouthed youngsters and feel-good vibes.