QUEEN OF KATWE

July 15, 2017

Movies are not only meant for entertainment, they teach life lessons too. They demonstrate different ways people live and survive which in turn influences our thinking. Movies don’t only remind us of our strengths, they also teach us how to exploit our strengths. I have come across so many great inspirational movies with important life lessons. For instance,I never understood the importance of ‘passion’, until I watched “Florence Foster Jenkins” and “The Beautiful Mind”. Furthermore, “Hercules” taught me the power of self-identity and “Chicken Run” taught me perseverance. In this case, “Queen of Katwe”, a remarkable and inspiring story of Phiona Mutesi’s struggle to succeed against all odds demonstrates that it is possible to overcome obstinate obstacles.

The movie, Queen of Katwe is a compendious screenplay on the true story of Phiona Mutesi. This inspirational biographical sport film features Madina Nalwanga who played the role of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl living in the Kampala slum of Katwe. She comes across a children chess club run by a local teacher. The teacher is quick to discern her fighting spirit as she refuses to be called a dirty girl. “This place is for fighters,” the teacher welcomes her into the chess club with those words and she proves right. She learns to play chess despite not knowing how to read. In few years, she became a chess champion on a global stage even in the face of obstacles. She is the first in Uganda to attain the woman candidate master title in chess.

The above synopsis of the movie might seem like a straightforward story to some people. However, it wasn’t an easy road for Phiona to move from abject poverty to stardom. She was faced with lots of problems. She was raised by a widowed mother, who could barely support the family from her little business, so she and siblings assisted their mother by hawking maize. She and her family members lived in a doorless and windowless shack, yet, one of the gifts of nature, rain, had no sympathy for them, it flooded their house and washed away most of the little things they had. Also, her elder sister who was supposed to assist her widowed mother was lured away from home by a poor man. She returned home to announce her pregnancy. That news rendered Phiona heartbroken. How were they supposed to survive with an addition to the family when they had too little to share? Those were some of the distractions that made Phiona feel her future was at stake. Would she end up like her elder sister, who was quick to embrace advances from a man because he could offer little than their widowed mother? She was scared that certain things would never change. Despite being faced with abject poverty, fear and anxiety, she fought against all odds. She won in a national chess competition and became a chess champion. Her inspiring story was published in a book and from the money she made she was able to buy her family a decent home.

Without watching the movie people might consider the fact that a Kampala slum girl rose to become a champion unrealistic. Some might debate on the subject of how she was able to play chess and win in national competitions despite being uneducated. Nevertheless, with her intelligence and persistence Phiona rose above all obstacles and became a Queen over those problems that should have ruled over her life.That is why her remarkable and inspiring story is worth telling in a movie to show the world that it is possible to rise above those life situations that we dread. If Phiona, the Queen of Katwe can have a success story despite all odds, we also can rule over those ugly circumstances that are impeding our progress in life.