Mira Nair's fascination to set a story in slums continues, but as they say, excess of everything is bad. Nair's latest offering Queen of Katwe failed to hold my interest despite the fact that I am an ardent lover of the game of chess.
There is no 'strategy' (so vital in the game of 64 squares) in the storytelling, which in other words means, you bloody well know in every encounter that who's going to end up saying 'Checkmate'.
The basic ingredient required in an underdog story is that the maker should make the audience root for the central character. At no point in the celluloid version of the chess champion Phiona Mutesi's struggle does one fear that Phiona (played by Madina Nalwanga) may lose the game. Does this mean that there were hardly any peaks and valleys in her way to the top? Maybe it was a roller-coaster ride for her; but couldn't Nair have yet made the adrenaline flow?
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Even when Phiona is beaten in an odd clash due to her over-confidence, it is crystal clear as the film has almost run its course by then that it's just that one lesson which every champion needs before being 'knight'ed.
The resistance put up against Phiona's choice of career by her mother Nakku (Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong'o) in her conversations with the coach Robert Katende (David Oyelowo) lacks conviction in substance, and is not even the 'obstruction provided by a pawn'.
The only takeaway from the film is 'Let your child follow his/her interests and he/she is most likely to excel'. But haven't we been told this before 'n' number of times and certainly don't need to be told again in an insipid way which defeats the very purpose of morale-boosting? The long and short of Nair's drama is that it fails to make the adrenaline flow.
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Nobody matters in the film except Madina, Lupita and David. Fortunately for Nair, she has been able to extract marvellous performances from all three of them. Madina shines in her acting debut. Lupita leaves an unerasable mark in the scene where she visits a clothing merchant who wants to bed her in return for a handsome amount which would give her all the money that her daughter needs to buy chess books, but the dignified mother refuses to 'take her king and lay him by the side (surrender)'. An extra inch for David who really looks his part. The remaining cast of youngsters, all first-time actors from mostly Katwe, adds authenticity.
William Wheeler’s lacklustre script makes the movie ultimately feel like a chore.
I am going with Two Stars, an extra Half was added for the performances.
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