#QUEEN OF KATWE BOOK MOVIE#
I think that the main reason this movie didn't succeed much in USA or Europe on commercial merit is that people didn't really get through those clichés yet. I am glad I finally watched it today, as it successfully managed to avoid clichés and 2D story-line so often seen in this genre and clichés of over-romanticizing of poverty and Africa in general. There were things that discouraged me to prioritize this movie before all the other I have seen from 2016 so far - like its Disney poster, its genre of "from the bottom to the top" (always a danger to fall into clichés), and lack of exposure and reviews. Nair makes this process as visible, as palpable - as irresistible - as any boxing match or soccer game.I was hesitant to see the movie, although I marked it for my 2016 must watch list some time ago. When she starts to learn chess, she can barely read, and her growing awareness of the powers of her mind is thrilling to watch. Phiona’s awakening sense of her talent is the engine that drives the main plot of “Queen of Katwe” and also what makes it an affecting character study. Nalwanga’s watchful, quiet presence conveys both shyness and determination, a habit of humility in tension with an almost superhuman intelligence. Nalwanga who will rivet all eyes in the way that untrained, naturally charismatic screen performers sometimes can, especially when supported by actors with the technical expertise of Ms. Adults, meanwhile, can surrender to some old-fashioned melodramatic pleasures, as the busy plot takes in Harriet and Robert’s struggles as well as Phiona’s. “Queen of Katwe” is likely to be embraced by young viewers, and there is nothing here they won’t be able to handle. Nair and the screenwriter, William Wheeler, refuse to turn African life into a pageant of grimness and deprivation. “Hope is not a tactic,” Robert likes to say. Nor does it suggest that winning chess matches is a magical solution to the world’s injustice. It also has the buoyant, cleareyed feel for the particulars of culture and place that is among this director’s great gifts, evident in films as different as “Mississippi Masala,” “Monsoon Wedding” and “Vanity Fair.” Phiona’s circumstances are harsh, and the film hardly minimizes the brutal choices and painful limitations placed on women like Harriet and Night. Nair’s hands, Phiona’s story has a richness and unpredictability that separates it from other, superficially similar movies. The sight of well-fed, well-dressed schoolboys beaten by a girl - a poor girl, at that - would be satisfying even if “Queen of Katwe” were a less vivid and engaging movie. He fast-talks his way into a chess tournament held at a snooty private school, and proudly leads his charges into battle against opponents who are reluctant to shake their hands. Oyelowo wants to inspire you, you are darn well going to be inspired - and also a sly and cheerful class warrior. Robert, whose own youth was scarred by poverty and war, has an engineering degree but lacks the connections that would help land him a job working for the government or a private company. Did “Hoosiers” make you cry? “Queen of Katwe” will wreck you.Ĭhess enters their world thanks to Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), who teaches the game to Katwe’s children as part of a youth ministry. Just as surely as a creaky door or a clap of thunder will summon shivers of fright the thousandth time you hear it, so will the spectacle of a scrappy group of strivers following their unlikely coach to victory bring lumps to throats and tears to eyes. To be fair, the film, directed by Mira Nair, based on Tim Crothers’s book and enabled by the magical corporate synergy of Disney and ESPN, belongs to a genre that specializes in defeating skepticism and swelling the stoniest hearts. For all I know that may be the case with “Queen of Katwe,” but if there is anyone out there capable of remaining unmoved by this true-life triumph-of-the-underdog sports story, I don’t think I want to meet that person. No matter how universally charming or winning a movie or a performance might seem to be, there is always a chance that somebody, somewhere, will be able to resist it. “Irresistible” is one of those adjectives that critics should handle with utmost care.
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