5 Reasons to Watch “Queen of Katwe” Tonight
Netflix Offers a Non-Disney Take on a Truly Empowering Story
Half-way through watching Disney’s The Queen of Katwe I knew I wanted to do a review on it because I could already tell that it was going to be one of my favorite movies that I’ve seen this year. The movie tells the story of Phiona Mutesi, a young girl growing up in a Ugandan slum, who rises out of poverty through her prodigious talent as a chess player.
Here’s everything I loved about The Queen of Katwe:
- It’s empowering for girls without being heavy-handed or unrealistic.
One of my pet peeves in Hollywood is “fake empowerment” movies that momentarily make women feel strong by portraying them on-screen as being able to beat men at physical activities that men’s bodies are naturally more suited to. In Queen of Katwe, Phiona’s plight as an impoverished and vulnerable young girl is real, but the way she escapes is by using her mind, not by karate-chopping bad guys.
“In chess,” explains one of girls in the group as she teaches Phiona how a pawn can become a queen, “the little one can become the big one. That’s why I like it.” It’s a powerful metaphor for how Phiona herself uses chess to rise out of the vulnerability of poverty.
2. You won’t find a white savior or a white villain in this movie.
This is an African story set in an African country, with African characters played by African actors. In America, it is incredibly refreshing to see a movie which is peopled predominantly by black characters, but is not about race. It also makes no particular attempt to pander to Western audiences by making the setting more familiar. It doesn’t feel “Anglicized” in its themes, in the way the story is presented, or in how the characters act or speak. I think there is a real need for movies that portray non-white characters completely outside of the white context, and this one fits that bill while also being an exceptionally good movie in its own right.
3. Lupita Nyong’o is in it.
I confess that this was the real reason this movie found its way onto my Netflix queue in the first place. I totally have a girl crush on Lupita Nyong’o, and I was eager to see her in something where she wasn’t playing a CGI alien. Nyong’o plays Phiona’s mother, Harriet, and she brings so much strength, dignity, and pathos to the role that I (who am almost 38 weeks pregnant with my second and dealing with mommy hormones) found myself bawling my eyes out through more than one scene.
4. It deals with difficult sexual themes in a surprisingly un-Disney way.
The movie is rated a family-friendly PG, and there is nothing explicit to worry about if you are watching it with your children, but it doesn’t hesitate to portray the sexual vulnerability that often comes with poverty. Phiona watches as her teenage sister, Night, is seduced into leaving the family to live with a man her mother calls “a wolf,” who buys her pretty clothes and expensive food until he becomes tired of her, abandoning her shortly before she discovers that she is pregnant.
Phiona’s mother faces the dilemma of whether to maintain her honor or put a roof over her family’s head after being reminded by the landlady as she evicts them, “There are plenty of sugar daddies who would be glad to pay your rent.” In America this seems like a heavy theme to put in a movie about a preteen girl, but Phiona heart-breakingly reminds us how relevant it is in Uganda as she asks her coach in one scene, “In a few years, men will be coming after me. Where is my safe space?”
5. It’s a true story.
And you can read the book, too:
