Queen of Katwe

A true story: Phiona Mutesi, living in the Katwe slum of Kampala in Uganda, is selling maize when she stumbles on a sports programme and learns chess there. The person teaching is Robert Katende. He studied engineering, could not find work, and was assigned as a missionary to coach children at football. Adding chess was his own idea. Mira Nair adapted the film from Tim Crothers's book, having already come to the subject through a documentary she made about Katende. Its soundest quality is refusing to simplify the story of escape. As Phiona wins, the distance from her family grows; her mother Harriet is proud and frightened at once that her daughter is entering another world, and coming back to the neighbourhood gets harder each time. Madina Nalwanga plays Phiona, Lupita Nyong'o her mother and David Oyelowo plays Katende. It was shot entirely in Uganda and South Africa, produced by Disney. Watchable as a family. For anyone who plays chess the game scenes are shallow; the real subject is not chess but class.