Queen of Katwe (2016)
Country: US
Technical: col 124m
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o
Synopsis:
A girl from a Kampala slum, thanks to the outreach programme of the Christian Ministry there, discovers an innate talent for chess and, under the tutelage of her coach, becomes national champion of Uganda. However, this creates tensions between her humble family circumstances and the new world of possibility opening up before her.
Review:
A magnificent departure for the Disney studio to produce an all-black entertainment with such a nuanced social message. Okay, like Slumdog Millionaire before it, it does aestheticize poverty a little, but there is no doubt about the precarity of the lives of people there, or about the bonds between individuals, each other and their wider community. The dilemma is whether no hope is preferable to false hope, but the closing images of the real-life members of Coach's programme go some way towards addressing adverse criticism. The leads are superb as Coach, mother and daughter, Phiona.
Country: US
Technical: col 124m
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o
Synopsis:
A girl from a Kampala slum, thanks to the outreach programme of the Christian Ministry there, discovers an innate talent for chess and, under the tutelage of her coach, becomes national champion of Uganda. However, this creates tensions between her humble family circumstances and the new world of possibility opening up before her.
Review:
A magnificent departure for the Disney studio to produce an all-black entertainment with such a nuanced social message. Okay, like Slumdog Millionaire before it, it does aestheticize poverty a little, but there is no doubt about the precarity of the lives of people there, or about the bonds between individuals, each other and their wider community. The dilemma is whether no hope is preferable to false hope, but the closing images of the real-life members of Coach's programme go some way towards addressing adverse criticism. The leads are superb as Coach, mother and daughter, Phiona.
Country: US
Technical: col 124m
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o
Synopsis:
A girl from a Kampala slum, thanks to the outreach programme of the Christian Ministry there, discovers an innate talent for chess and, under the tutelage of her coach, becomes national champion of Uganda. However, this creates tensions between her humble family circumstances and the new world of possibility opening up before her.
Review:
A magnificent departure for the Disney studio to produce an all-black entertainment with such a nuanced social message. Okay, like Slumdog Millionaire before it, it does aestheticize poverty a little, but there is no doubt about the precarity of the lives of people there, or about the bonds between individuals, each other and their wider community. The dilemma is whether no hope is preferable to false hope, but the closing images of the real-life members of Coach's programme go some way towards addressing adverse criticism. The leads are superb as Coach, mother and daughter, Phiona.