Queen of Katwe Review

PG: Thematic Elements, An Accident Scene and Some Suggestive Material

Disney, ESPN Films, Cine Mosaic, Mirabai Films

2 Hrs and 4 Minutes

Cast: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Kabanza, Ntare Mwine, with Maurice Kirya, and Esther Tebandeke

REVIEW: Every year Disney releases a sports drama biopic that either goes under the radar or becomes a beloved film. We had Disney films dealing with football (Remember the Titans), basketball (Glory Road), baseball (Million Dollar Arm), and track and field (MacFarland USA). This year Disney takes you to the slums of Uganda to bring us another inspirational sport story but in the field of Chess? Don’t discriminate against Chess, it is one of the most challenging sports out there but for Phiona Mutesi, it changed her life forever to an extent she went from having her own book and now has her own biopic made by Disney.

 Phiona lives with her mother Harriet (12 Years a Slave’s Oscar-winning Lupita Nyong’o) and two brothers, selling corn in the slum streets in order to eke out their humble existence. When Phiona drops into a missionary chess club run by teacher Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), she quickly discovers she not only has an interest in the game, but a gift. As Kitende battles societal sneering at “slum kids” playing the Game of Kings, he pushes his team to compete in the World Chess Olympiads and Phiona becomes his star pupil, a girl with an almost supernatural ability to anticipate her opponent’s moves. But as she moves closer to global greatness, becoming a kind of folk hero to the people of Katwe in the process, the distance between Phiona and her proud, cautious mother grows.

THE GOOD:  With these Disney sport dramas there has been an occurrence of the “great white hope” figure to these prodigies that are of another nationality. In Queen of Katwe, you don’t have any of that. Here you get true genuine people that have heart and passion for everything they believe. What makes this film works comparison to other Disney films is that we are centered on a girl who doesn’t know where she belongs and her unexpected gift helps her find her way. It could’ve been an animated film in the Disney Princess catalog if it wasn’t a true story. It has a darker tone than a lot of dramas of these types where it talks about promiscuity that you question if this is really a Disney film let alone a PG film. 

You are centered in Uganda where you see the different forms of living that you don’t see in films set in Africa. Where usually you see the slums or the slums, here you see the slums, the rich, and the in-between. It is very honest with its surroundings and how background leads into different interactions between characters. It is one of those films that doesn’t move much by story, but more on performances. Lupita Nyong'o does a great job as the mother of Phiona where her different living background questions her daughter’s opportunity. She has strong fist and controls it powerfully playing a mother of 4 children. David Oyelowo does a great job as her coach who isn’t only just as a mentor but also as a second home to her. For a British actor who went from Martin Luther King Jr. to an African coach you see he has a lot of range. But the real star is Madina Nalwanga as Phiona. This is her first film and she controls it like a queen. We see the world through her eyes and the majority of it captivates the audience as we follow her struggle of being a prodigy while living in poverty. This girl is centered on becoming the very best that no one ever was. She's like the female Ugandan Ash Ketchum of chess. 

At every scene of hope and inspiration there is always heartbreak around the corner. It doesn’t even have to be emotional dialogue or a tragic event, but it is by change in character. We see characters change for either better or for worse as the film is divided into years from 2008-2011. It doesn’t even feel like these are characters but are true people which is what director Mira Nair does a great job doing in all of her films since The Namesake. Nair knows how to capture true cultural living in all of her films and doesn’t shy away of showing the slums. She does a great job directing her cast that they don’t even feel like actors. It is funny that Nyong'o's career started with her as a production assistant on Nair's film adaptaion of The Namesake and now is one of the key leads in her newest film. With the exception of Oyelowo and Nyong’o the majority of the cast are new and unknown for they haven’t had any on screen experiences before and yet they do an amazing job. Even in the very end, they bring out the actors standing alongside their true counterpart which is a magnificent add-on to the film. With some of the cast inexperiences to film, it makes this much more grounded than it already is. It is a very diverse move for such a huge studio like Disney.

THE BAD: As much as this is an inspirational and moving film, Queen of Katwe suffers from two major problems: unevenness and overfamiliarity. As many biopics go it follows the same formula from unexpected gift to surprising win to training to family tragedy to rebirth to so on and so forth. It does prosper from a new perception of a rather played out formula, but the plot points are still laid out for you. For the first 30 minutes of the film, it starts off bumpy where the editing is constantly cut from one random scene to the next where you become lost at times. From there, it starts to get its footing in its narrative focusing from Phiona’s life to Robert Katende’s. But even then one of the most intense and real scenes are cut into a place that comes really out of nowhere. The film integrates music, but not at the right times. There is upbeat African music added in to show the “urban” side of Uganda and it comes out off-putting for the majority of it. Even in the credits there is a straight up music video that will make you cringe so hard, it nearly destroys the good intentions you had for the film. It is in the credits so you don't have to watch but if you witness it, get the fuck out of there when you can.  

LAST STATEMENT: Disney’s Queen of Katwe does follow the same formulaic story as sport biopics go, but its fearlessness of telling it in a new perception that is centered in another continent with a fully non-Caucasian cast makes this a worthwhile viewing for anyone wanting some inspiration.

Rating: 3.5/5 | 74%

Super Scene: Phionia surprises her mom in a way that expresses the Disney magic emphasizes