October 5, 2016
Page 11
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney film ‘Queen of Katwe’ Inspires
Sweet Street Food Cart
o PinionAted
J udge
New location 15th and Alberta
call 503-995-6150 to place order
by J udge
d arleen
o rtega
You have seen underdog
movies. You have seen movies
about people who scrambled out
of poverty. But the new Disney
film “Queen of Katwe” still has
things to teach you.
As Tim Crothers wrote for
ESPN The Magazine, “To be
African is to be an underdog in
the world. To be Ugandan is to
be an underdog in Africa. To be
from Katwe [a slum in Kampala]
is to be an underdog in Uganda.
And finally, to be female is to
be an underdog in Katwe.” That
perspective grounded Crother’s
profile of Ugandan chess prodi-
gy Phiona Mutesi, which began
as an article and then became
a book, “The Queen of Katwe:
One Girl’s Triumphant Path to
Becoming a Chess Champion”
-- and then the basis for this film.
Its director, Mira Nair (who
directed “Monsoon Wedding,”
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist,”
and an unusually eclectic array
of other films), has been living
six months of each year in Kam-
pala for the past 27 years, and
has approached this film with
the wisdom of an insider and
the curiosity of someone who
listens well. As she has said, “If
we don’t tell our own stories, no
one else will.” Indeed, American
films, which so dominate the in-
ternational film market, rarely
feature African stories; the few
that do focus on war and gener-
ally involve a white American or
European protagonist.
This is a rare opportunity to
see an African story, filmed in
Africa, by a director who lives
there, and featuring all African
actors (including its well-known
stars, David Oyelowo (“Selma”)
and Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years
a Slave”). (Oyelowo was born
in England to Nigerian parents,
and Nyong’o grew up in Kenya.)
Nair estimates that 80 of the 100
or so others who appear in the
film as actors or extras had never
been on camera before. She has
enlisted them to embody a story
that feels like theirs in all its par-
ticulars, a delicious pleasure for
us and, I imagine, for them, and
particularly for Oyelowo and
Nyong’o.
Phiona is played by Madina
Mon. - Fri., 11:00am - 7:00pm • Sat. - Sun., 11:00am - 5:00pm
Wednesday Special: 3 Wings $2.00
Friday Special: Rib Sandwich, Beef or Pork, $4.00
Photo Courtesy d isney
Madina Nalwanga concentrates at the chess board in her role as the
chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi in the new Disney film ‘Queen of Katwe.’
Nalwanga, who, like her char-
acter, is from the slums of Kam-
pala and sold corn on the street
as a child. She conveys Phiona’s
grave, watchful intelligence as a
young girl who lives in Katwe
with her mother and two young-
er brothers. Phiona, whose father
died of AIDS when she was three
years old, didn’t know how to
read or write since an education
must be paid for and obtaining
food, clean water, and shelter
were already a daily struggle for
the family. She and her brother
certainly had no knowledge of
chess before they wandered into
the Sports Outreach Institute
run by Robert Katende (played
by Oyelowo), a minister who
offered porridge to attract chil-
dren to a game that would en-
gage their minds and enlist the
creativity and will to survive that
they already relied on each day.
Phiona showed early prom-
ise at chess, which is thought
by many Africans to be a white
person’s pursuit and which, in
Africa, is mainly played by those
privileged enough to be educat-
ed. From his own experiences,
Katende recognized the power
of this game to show the poorest
and most deprived children un-
expected ways to employ their
native intelligence and necessary
resourcefulness to compete on
C ontinued on P age 18