"Queen of Katwe" Charms with Sincerity

“In chess, the small one can become the big one,” a young slum girl teaches wide-eyed protagonist Phiona (Madina Nalwanga). It’s a reference to the rule in chess in which a pawn, considered dispensable and weak, can become a queen, the single most dominant piece in the game. The premise of Disney’s latest offering, “Queen of Katwe,” fits this phenomenon to a T through its telling of the remarkable true story of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan woman who goes from selling maize in the slums of Katwe, Uganda, to becoming a national chess champion. Though certainly inspiring and remarkable, Phiona’s is a subdued story that, in lesser hands, could have very easily translated as insipid on screen. But phenomenal performances abound, and studied, rapt attention to detail from cast and crew alike allow the film to transcend its clichés and to eschew any trace of banality. “Queen of Katwe” is an exquisitely shot, powerfully acted, and delicately, intelligently directed film that does justice to the inspiring story of its protagonist.

At its core, “Queen of Katwe” is a story told countless times before. The nature of Phiona’s story forces the film into recycling stock characters audiences will recognize all too well—the underdog; the earnest, good-willed coach; the strict mother; and the absentee father, to name a few. Perhaps the film falls into saccharine territory one too many times, but it doesn’t surrender itself to convention. It instead adds substance to otherwise prosaic characters by touching upon real, relevant problems in their lives, such as identity, death, class, inequality, and even, perhaps a bit surprisingly for a family movie, prostitution. The cast’s extraordinary efforts are strong enough to overcome a screenplay that at times feels stilted, and the actors ultimately succeed in bringing their dynamic characters to life. In particular, newcomer Madina Nalwanga, hand-picked by director Mira Nair herself from the slums of Uganda, manages to stand her ground against seasoned actors Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo. In one of the most memorable moments of the film, she licks gruel from the side of a mug—her eyes, somber and expressive, lending an authenticity to her performance that provides the film with a breath of fresh air.

Visually, the film is utterly engrossing. Nair, who has previously worked in Uganda and is married to a Ugandan, is well aware of the setting’s capacity to stun and wastes not one moment in capturing the richness of all the country has to offer. Nair’s vision, realized through Sean Bobbitt’s gorgeous cinematography, captures the beauty in the slums of a rural Africa, a setting so rarely depicted by Hollywood at all. Bright yellows dart across the screen, layered upon burnt oranges and brilliant reds; glassy percussions sound off in the background as the small town of Katwe is suffused with a contagious exuberance. As expertly as Nair captures wider vistas, even more captivating is her fixation on the smallest of details, a sheer delight to watch. She is entirely unafraid to use extreme close-up shots to direct our gaze upon things like crescents of dirt under fingernails and blackened toes. Perhaps most notably, Nair intersperses a mix of close-up and extreme close-up shots throughout the film to bring our attention towards the eyes of the Ugandans—arrestingly shot through with red, swollen vessels, presumably due to stress or infection. The film’s political leaders, privileged schoolboys, and poorest urchins, though they vary widely in outward demeanor, are all equalized through close-up shots of their bloodshot eyes, a muted yet chilling statement on class and identity. Nair goes both big and small as she depicts a Katwe steeped in beauty and authenticity, and her work on both ends is masterful.

It may be easy at this time in the season to gloss over a biopic, especially one that centers on the relatively esoteric topic of chess, but “Queen of Katwe” is an infectiously warm, sincere, visually arresting depiction of a story that deserves to be heard. Through the film’s amalgam of considerable talents of cast and crew alike, Phiona’s true and powerful story has easily and handsomely come to life on the big screen.

—Staff writer Patricia M. Guzman can be reached at patricia.guzman@thecrimson.com.