Director Mira Nair’s Queen
of Katwe is a very special film about a world few of us would know and
from which everyone can learn.
Based on the true-life story
of Phiona Mutesi (Nadina Nalwanga), who lives in the poor community of Katwe, Uganda,
we meet her as a 12-year-old in 2007 and follow her over the next 7 years.
Her widowed mother (Lupita
Nyong’o) cannot afford to send her to school, so Phiona spends her day bringing
water home in large cans and selling maize for money.
Life changes when she
follows her younger brother (Martin Kabanza), who steals off during the day to get
a daily breakfast in the little enclosure set up by a soccer coach Robert Katende
(David Oyelowo).
Katende teaches other unschooled children to
use their minds by learning to play chess.
Phiona tries her hand at
the game and the results are dramatic!
Writer William Wheeler’s
screenplay transports our visual pleasure through an understanding of the
underprivileged Ugandans and the thrills of victory.
Queen of
Katwe is pure joy and well-worth
a 4.5 out of 5.
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