In movies like Freedom Writers, Half Nelson, and Dangerous Minds, a classroom full of "underprivileged" nonwhite kids have their lives turned around by a white teacher. Yet through the sacrifices of a white teacher they are transformed, saved, and redeemed by film’s end." "The genre features a group of lower-class, urban, nonwhites (generally black and Latino/a) who struggle through the social order in general, or the educational system specifically. Queen of Katwe bucks the "white savior" stereotypeĪ hefty subset of magical teacher movies cross their stories with the "white savior" trope, resulting in a genre that professor Matthew Hughey succinctly summarized in 2010 in the journal Symbolic Interaction: So there’s the excitement of seeing the long shot go up against the giant, but Queen of Katwe also follows the contours of the "magical teacher" movie, in which some enterprising instructor coaxes a classroom full of students toward the greatness that was always latent in them - think of Dead Poets’ Society, Mona Lisa Smile, or Mr. Even those who don’t know their rooks from their pawns will be biting their nails during competitions as young, inexperienced Phiona stares over the chess board at her older and more well-trained opponents. Sports movies draw on this idea all the time, and one of the triumphs of Queen of Katwe is that it manages to make chess exciting - and comprehensible! - to all viewers. It’s familiar for a reason: It’s fun to root for an underdog, and gratifying to think that a champion can come from anywhere. You can spot the next plot beats as they crest the horizon: Phiona wins progressively more important matches, encounters difficulty at home, keeps winning, experiences setbacks - you know the drill. Though Phiona is reticent to join in at first, it soon becomes clear she has an extraordinary talent for the game. But he discovers that some of the children aren’t allowed to join in because any injury would mean a financial hit to their families - and thus, the chess club is born. While selling maize to help her widowed mother Harriet (Nyong’o) earn enough to feed the family, Phiona wanders into a chess club for local children started by Robert Katende (Oyelowo), a Christian missionary working with a sports-focused outreach organization. In the movie, Phiona (played by radiant newcomer Madina Nalwanga) first encounters chess by accident. The article was nominated for a National Magazine Award and turned into a book, and now the book is a film, directed by Mira Nair ( The Namesake), who has lived in Kampala for 27 years.įrom the start, the story was almost guaranteed to translate well to the big screen, as it combines two of American moviegoers’ favorite inspirational movie genres: underdog sports stories and tales of teachers and students. Crothers’s article tracked Phiona on an extraordinary journey, headed for the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Siberia (where she was one of the youngest players in the room) en route to her dream to become a grandmaster. In 2011, journalist Tim Crothers wrote a story for ESPN about Phiona Mutesi, an illiterate 14-year-old girl from a slum called Katwe, located just outside Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Disney Phiona Mutesi’s story is perfect for a movie. Instead of succumbing to the tempting but troubling "white savior" narrative that often pops up in movies of its sort, it sticks to its roots and tells a better story. It sidesteps a few of the laziest pitfalls into which movies of this sort often dive, and undermines the tropes of its genre with cheer and panache. It’s a crowd pleaser with a lot of potential: It’s shot in English, is full of music and Ugandan culture, boasts two big Hollywood stars ( 12 Years a Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o and Selma’s David Oyelowo), and has a major studio behind it (Disney). Music swells, credits roll, we all go home smiling.īut Queen of Katwe is also the best new movie this weekend. On the path toward a breakthrough, she has to overcome all sorts of difficulties.
You’ve seen this story before, right? A poor black teenager with few opportunities meets a teacher who helps her see a life beyond her provincial world. On first blush, Queen of Katwe seems pretty conventional.