Instantly recognizing Phiona’s natural skill, he mentors her through a series of increasingly far-flung competitions. Robert’s devotion to giving children a foundation to improve their lives is rooted in his own painful experience of being orphaned at a young age. Still, she wouldn’t get very far without the help of Robert Katende ( David Oyelowo), the missionary and former soccer player who starts up a chess club in an abandoned church.
She refuses to let her gender, social status, or lack of an education (her mother can’t afford the expense of sending her to school) stand in the way of mastering the strategies of chess. Another sibling and Phiona’s father have both passed away, while teenage sister Night (Taryn “Kay” Kyaze) has taken up with an older man.īleak circumstances aside - and the script by William Wheeler understandably omits many of the harsher details of life in Uganda included in Tim Crothers’ nonfiction book of the same name - Phiona is nothing if not determined. Her mother Harriet (Lupita Nyong’o) hawks vegetables to support Phiona and her two younger brothers. Only 9 years old when she discovers the game, Phiona lives in extreme poverty in a shantytown called Katwe, just outside the capital city of Kampala. When we first see heroine Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) she’s on the cusp of becoming a national chess champion, and the narrative skips back a few years to trace how she got there.
0 kommentar(er)
