Tag: frompagetoscreen

About the Book: The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers

Subtitled “A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster”,   the book tells the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a girl from the Katwe slum area of Kampala, Uganda. Nine-year old Phiona’s aptitude for chess is spotted by an inspirational mentor, Robert Katende, a war refugee turned missionary. Soon chess offers her the tantalising possibility of finding a route out of poverty and hardship.  She joins Katende’s group of “Pioneers” and it soon becomes obvious that she has a special talent. By the age of eleven Phiona is her country’s junior champion and at fifteen, the national champion. Phiona’s dream is to one day become a Grandmaster, the most elite title in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world’s most unstable countries, a place where girls are taught to be mothers, not dreamers, and the threats of AIDS, kidnapping, and starvation loom over the people.

Read my review of the book here.

About the Film: Queen of Katwe (2016)

Queen of Katwe is directed by Mira Nair from a screenplay by William Wheeler, based on the book by Tim Crothers.   It stars David Oyelowo as Robert Katende, newcomer Madina Nalwanga as Phiona and Lupita Nyong’o as Phiona’s mother, Nakku Harriet.

More information about the film can be found here.

Book v Film

The film was shot largely on location in the Katwe slum area of Kampala, Uganda giving it remarkable authenticity. It gives a realistic picture of the poverty, crime and sheer daily struggle that is the everyday experience of the inhabitants of Katwe. Their exposure to the vagaries of the elements is also dramatically illustrated. As with many film adaptations, it chooses to focus on a few key characters and amends and elides certain events for dramatic appeal. For instance, in reality (as Tim Crothers’ book makes clear), the Sports Outreach organisation that supported the “Pioneers” group was the work of many other people, not just Robert Katende, although it’s true he did the most one-on-one work with the children.  In that regard, David Oyelowo gives a compelling performance as Robert Katende and the performances of the actors playing the children who make up the “Pioneers” are remarkable, especially newcomer, Madina Nalwanga, as Phiona.

The Verdict

The film, Queen of Katwe, is a feel-good movie with some charming, humorous moments to offset the more serious themes.  It probably leaves the viewer with a more positive message about Phiona’s future prospects in the world of chess than is the situation in real life. The film is visually stunning with excellent performances from both leading and supporting cast.  Since I found the book stylistically a little stodgy, although packed full of factual detail, on this occasion I think the film wins out over the book.

 

About the Book: Indignation

It is 1951 in America, the second year of the Korean War. Marcus Messner, a studious, law-abiding, intense young man from Newark, New Jersey is beginning his sophomore year on the pastoral, conservative campus of Ohio’s Winesburg College. And why is he there and not at the local college in Newark where he originally enrolled? Because his father, the sturdy, hard-working neighbourhood butcher, seems to have gone mad – mad with fear and apprehension of the dangers of adult life, the dangers of the world, the dangers he sees in every corner for his beloved boy.  However, life is full of unimagined chances and their potential consequences.

Read my review of the book here.

About the Film: Indignation (2016)

Indignation is adapted and directed by James Schamus from the book by Philip Roth.  It stars Logan Lerman as Marcus Messner, Sarah Gadon as Olivia Hutton and Tracy Letts as Dean Caudwell.  More information about the film can be found here.

Book v Film

The film adheres to the book pretty closely but has additional opening and closing sequences that reference events that will take place later in the film.  It omits the curved ball delivered part way into the novel that provides the reader with a fair (but pretty depressing) idea how the book will end.   Logan Lerman is well-cast as Marcus Messner and gives a very effective performance that captures his studiousness and naivety.  Marcus’ college room-mates get less focus than in the book instead central place is given to Marcus’ relationship with the troubled Olivia.  Thankfully, the director retains the standout scene from the novel – Marcus’ interview with Dean Caudwell – and gives it almost 15 minutes screen time, preserving much of Roth’s dialogue and Marcus’ unconventional exit.  Marcus’s sexual encounters are dramatised in the film but not in a graphic way; they are communicated rather by his facial expressions.   Like the book, the film ends quite suddenly and in a particularly dark manner.

The Verdict

I think the director does a good job of adapting Roth’s novel but obviously the process of adaptation means emphasising some aspects and diminishing others (no “War of the White Panties” in the film!).  James Schumas chooses to place Marcus’ relationship with Olivia at the centre of the film, thereby losing some of the minor characters from the book.  From the novel, it is quite clear that Marcus must graduate from college to avoid the draft and that expulsion for breaching any of its rules will have dire consequences.  I’m not sure this comes across as clearly in the film and, had I not read the book, I might have missed the significance of what happens at the end and why we suddenly find Marcus in an altogether different setting.  So, on balance, although I very much enjoyed the film, which is a well-crafted piece of cinema with excellent performances, I think the book wins out (as it so often does).