Everyone, regardless of their circumstances, has a purpose in their lives, also a talent or gift that they possess. A lot of people don’t discover it, and there are those that do but waste away the potential to really tap into it before they can truly unlock what it is that they truly possess. Having a gift or a talent is nothing without hard work, and it takes belief from other people to motivate you into diving deeper into what you can do to push yourself further, and it’s great that there’s a success story here (a true one) that is both heart-warming and inspiring for a community in a world that is very unfamiliar to myself, but in a way relatable given the nature of the underdog – you always root for them.

What was refreshing about the movie was that there wasn’t your typical Black conflict with a White savior or anything having to do with racism or extreme violence, which seems to be the hot trend with the support of movies with predominantly Black people (12 Years, Django, Birth of a Nation, Beasts of No Nation, etc.); rather within the struggle of living in an impoverished neighbourhood, you still saw joy and hope within the people and their beautiful traditional colours, wardrobe and language. It was in a natural state and that’s what needs to be more of – honest stories that depict people in a light where it’s not always pain & suffering. I think there has been enough of that visualized, although when you look at the long history of Black people whether in Africa or North America, or the Caribbean, there is struggle that comes with the territory but it’s not the only thing we know. As the Chess players of Katwe are referred to as “fighters,” that’s the spirit of the resilient that embodies the pride of being Black.

Chess is a game that I played sparingly, but never sat down and really studied (I liked Checkers more). How the game of strategy was interwoven with the game of life in the movie was a beautiful contrast of how to deal with conflict on and off the board. There are a lot of battles that we can’t run away from, but we just have to take the losses to help build our character until we can truly become masters at our game, and that lesson was important to receive through the wonderful acting of David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, and Madina Nalwanga. African culture is beautiful with every country being unique in their own way, and I’m glad this movie wasn’t another dramatized story of feeling sorry for a group of people, but showing that no matter where you’re from and your circumstance, there’s always hope to improve your life using the very gifts you were born with to do so. This is a great movie, and you should definitely take the time out to watch it. But for now, this is my opinion, this is my review

That’s My Word & It STiXX