Review of Queen of Katwe (2016) by Maga_Man — 22 Sep 2016

Ridiculous and insulting racial pandering. The film dances around the uncomfortable fact that Phiona is, by international standards, an extremely mediocre player, and that the only reason she was awarded the rather meaningless WCM title was because she's from Uganda (normally it takes a 2000 FIDE ranking, but she's never even achieved 1700.

It was pure affirmative action). Her chess career has been on a slow decline for years from its unexceptional peak and nowadays she's more a mascot than a player. The film does her a huge disservice by misrepresenting her abilities and potential, and covering up the difficulties truly faced by people of her background.