Queen of Katwe

Year: 2016
Genre: Drama
Directed: Mira Nair
Stars: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Kabanza, Taryn Kyaze, Ivan Jacobo, Nicolas Levesque, Ronald Ssemaganda, Ethan Nazario Lubega, Nikita Waligwa, Edgar Kanyike
Production: Walt Disney Pictures

Queen of Katwe is a happy marriage between inspirational underdog sports movies and maudlin feel-good success story cliches; churned into velvety, buttery food for the soul by Disney's well-oiled dream machine. That may come across as a put down but I assure you the greater ends of this film are admirable enough on their own merits to shoulder its various cliches, and dully earns its moments of tears. You may have seen a version of this before, but like a cherished Sunday hymn, Queen of Katwe is familiar in all the right, comforting ways.

The true story of Phiona Mutesi (Nalwanga) begins in the Ugandan slum of Katwe. Due to an unexpected death in the family, Phiona, her older sister Night (Kyaze) and younger brother Brian (Kabanza) were taken out of school to help their tenacious mother (Nyong'o) sell maize on the streets. As a result Phiona is functionally illiterate and quickly faltering under the weight of life's hardships. One day, intrigued by the smell of porridge and the laughter of other children, Phiona and Brian stumble into Robert Katende (Oyelowo) Sports Outreach Program. It is there, among other things the trained engineer teaches chess to interested children with hopes of putting rich kids in their place. After a time, the spirited Phiona develops a hidden talent and passion for chess which Katende encourages to the point of training her to be a tried and true prodigy.

Who's ready for some chess?!

Arguably the most striking thing about Queen of Katwe is just how seamlessly the static game of chess lends itself to comely sports dynamics. While not exactly pulse-pounding - the only film to my recollection that made chess truly cinematic was Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) - the spirit of competition instilled in Katende's group sets in motion many tiny setups and payoffs. The David versus Goliath staging of the chess matches crackle with anticipation, much like watching the wick of a firecracker moments before it begins to hop. As Phiona gets more serious about her goals of becoming a Chess Olympiad champion, so too do the matches. The opponents become less foolhardy and more calculated only serving to make the scenes more intense. This is despite the camera wanting to linger on grimaces instead of rooks and bishops.

Yet the film's intention isn't to make chess interesting in and of itself. It's goal is to make Phiona's underdog tale the focal point. In that regard, we're treated to a cautious yet effective examination of a slum kid turned African champion, made a hair better than usual, by director Mira Nair's surgical approach to the story. While Nair rests a bit too comfortably on her laurels as a humanist for hire, there's no debating her ability to infuse life into every frame. Queen of Katwe is awash in color, brimming with energy and ably wins even the most cynical among us with effervescent glee.

Still one of the best underdog stories of all time.

The other side of that effervescence of course is the young Madina Nalwanga whose discovery ranks up there with Keke Palmer in Akeelah and the Bee (2006). The largest stumbling block of the movie; an extended tangent about hubris that goes nowhere, actually morphs into a proving ground for the young actress. She proves not only that she can be a child actor but a child actor with range even while the film feels like its slowly deflating.

Then of course there are the ample talents of David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o to consider. As Katende, Oyelowo is solid as the kindly mentor the kids all call Coach. The script pigeonholes the character to the tune of a saintly mentor beyond reproach; thankfully Oyelowo plays a few new chords out of that old ditty. Yet while Oyelowo glitters, Nyong'o shines as a tough-as-nails single mother whose seen it all. When it comes to taking hardship with a noble sense of courageousness, her Harriet does all the emotional heavy lifting and carries it through with aplomb.

Somewhere in the middle of the film, an official observes that Phiona's strategies on the board are the most aggressive she's seen from a girl. Secretly I was hoping the film would have taken just as many bold risks. Fortunately thanks to the vibrant mis en scene and three excellent performances by our main cast, Queen of Katwe succeeds in being the heart-warming crowd-pleaser it was designed to be. I suppose there are worse things to be in the world than that.

It could have been this trainwreck...

Final Grade: B-