Nalwanga convincingly gives us a teenager caught in the formative years of life who establishes her figurative throne not by way of socially-acceptable physical beauty or by way of a handsome princeвЂ™s rescueвЂ¦ not even really because of her intelligence or keen moves on the chess board. Newcomer Madina Nalwanga delivers quietly, yet forcefully as Phiona Mutesi, the alluded-to queen of the impoverished Ugandan province, Katwe. Lupita NyongвЂ™o effectively executes the role of Nakku Harriet, the mother of the filmвЂ™s titular character and the atypical matriarch whose faith and sacrificial love for her family grow despite a continuous and seemingly endless string of misfortunes that begin when her husband and the father of her four children dies unexpectedly. William WheelerвЂ™s screenplay adequately displays KatendeвЂ™s internal moral struggle that eventuates in his rejection of an offer to undertake a successful engineering career to instead coach a team of social outcasts - i.e. Here, we have the kind of creative and engaging expression of spirituality found in such recent works as 2015вЂ™s Selma and The Revenant and this yearвЂ™s Hail Ceasar!, Hell or High Water, and Birth of a Nation.Д«ased on true events as chronicled in the 2012 book Tim Crother published for ESPN, Katwe stars David Oyelowo as Robert Katende, a sports ministry leader who often opens chess matches with a word of prayer and employs culturally-significant parables as a means of motivating his players to persevere in the face of challenges both on and off the chess board.

In veteran director Mira NairвЂ™s vision, we see strands of references to faith organically and quietly pervading the film without ever becoming overbearing or overt. DisneyвЂ™s Queen of Katwe remains within the tradition of unintentional Christian filmmaking that prefers subtle nuances and unspoken demonstrations of conviction over tired clichГ©s, recycled tropes, wooden characters, and soap-boxy platitudes positing overly simplistic answers to the complexities of life lived in a fallen world.

Queen of katwe review