Here’s a mainstream movie set in Africa that’s not about conflict zones, has an entirely black speaking cast, and is centred on the intellectual achievements of a female protagonist – this makes Queen of Katwe an altogether radical anomaly, yet it couldn’t be more multiplex-friendly. It’s the true story of Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, tracing her triumphant progress from hard knocks in an impoverished district of Kampala. Newcomer Madina Nalwanga has a rueful, quiet appeal as Phiona, Lupita Nyong’o is affecting as the tough mother keeping an embattled family together, and David Oyelowo is warm and slyly charismatic as the committed coach who guides Phiona and a group of other kids – a terrifically winning young ensemble cast – through struggles against poverty, self-doubt and snobbery.
The film’s breezily affirmative agenda is a little predictably pursued at times, but this is a Disney production, after all. Even so, Mira Nair directs the cast with lightness and empathy, and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt helps her foreground the crackling sense of colour that made Nair’s 2001 hit Monsoon Wedding so memorable. As feelgood stories of empowerment go, this has a ring of authenticity and mixes intelligence with irreducible emotional immediacy. When the actors meet the real-life originals in the end credits, that lump in your throat will become a mountain.
