Queen of Katwe 2016
This movie came out in 2016 and didn’t make much of a splash, not even earning back its $15 million production cost at the box office. I got the Blu-ray for free using Disney Movie Rewards points based on the positive reviews, so they didn’t get any money from me either. But this is still a very good movie even if chess and Ugandan slums aren’t big box office draws. It’s maybe the classic inspirational sports tale, but I think it rises above that because it seems pretty accurate in the subject matter and even in the location, filmed entirely in Africa, mostly on location in the streets and even in the real building where they teach poor children in Katwe how to play chess. The principle people were on set each day to help out, and all of this took place just a couple of years after the events of the film took place. So it is fresh, vital, and genuine.
The story centers around a teenaged girl living in a shack in a Ugandan slum who learns to play and excel at chess even though she can’t even read. She lives with her brothers and sisters as her widowed mother tries and fails to stay up on the rent. She is coached through a Christian ministry that offers meager meals as well as soccer and chess coaching. It is mostly by the numbers, but it is amazing to see a kid so poor quickly become a phenomenon in a game of kings. Lupita Nyong'o, who had won an Oscar by the time this movie came out, seems too young to play the mother of teenaged children, but actually the numbers kind of work out. David Oyelowo had already made it big playing Martin Luther King in Selma before playing the coach, but the rest of the cast are mostly unknowns. Both of them are very good as is the lead, Madinar Nalwanga. The story has some heavy moments as the characters struggle, but is primarily about overcoming those things. I’m not sure chess is going to pay a lot of bills for many, but it does open doors. This is just a well made movie showing an unusual perspective. Definitely worth watching.
Written: 13 Apr 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital