Queen of Katwe star Lupita Nyong’o gains new respect for the sacrifices mothers make
|||THERESA SMITH
ONE OF the things that excited actress Lupita Nyong’o most about working on Queen of Katwe was being on location.
“I hadn’t been on location for a film since 12Years a Slave,” Nyong’o said in an interview in Joburg a day after attending the South African premiere of Queen of Katwe.
“I had done Star Wars and Jungle Book and those were studio films, so just to be in Uganda where these things transpired in Katwe and the neighbouring areas, it was just so stimulating and informative for me in developing my character and having a full grasp of the story we were telling,” she said.
Nyong’o plays Harriet Mutesi, mother to the teenager who learns to play chess, but more importantly, figures out a way to change their circumstances.She arrived in Uganda weeks before the film shoot started to meet and spend time with Harriet, whom she described as grounded, yet quite enigmatic: “What I found was that she was a woman who was dignified, no matter how much money she had in her pocket.
“Her children came first in her life, but she would not sacrifice her principles, so that was something that I wanted to honour and portray in my version of her.
“Playing this role gave me profound respect for my mother and all mothers because when you have children, it is like a piece of your heart is ripped out and running amok in the world,” said Nyong’o.
She thinks it is also testament to director Mira Nair’s vision of the world, the insistence that the story of the different women in the film be foregrounded. “There is a version of this film which could have had Robert Katende be the protagonist,” she pointed out.
The 33-year-old is known for her elegant red carpet style, but says she was more blown away by what she saw in Uganda: “I have never looked out a window so often in a car and gasped at women walking by.
“There is a very large second-hand clothing market there, where you will see ensembles of designer clothing and then kitenge fabric over it. It is practical and effortless.
“Mobalaji Dawodu is the costume designer of this film and I was just floored by his talent. He was able to capture the effortlessness of style and just elevate what we saw with our naked eyes in Uganda.
“It is so delicious to see and to know that it comes from the truth. It’s not laboured.”
The Kenyan actress (who was born in Mexico) says she spent a lot of time in the market place, watching how people walked to create her Harriet character:
“Ugandan women have this incredible way of sitting and Harriet sat like this as well, where they sit totally upright, but with their legs folded to one side. It’s impossible to do without some serious yoga, so I did a lot of yoga to try and get into that position.” She laughs when one of the journalists asks her whether the concept of blessers is rife in Uganda as well, as it is a term she has never heard before. But, once she understands what the journalist means, Nyong’o says she won’t judge someone’s life choices, but women having to rely on men for money is something she did notice in Katwe.
She noticed that the average age for new mothers in Katwe seemed to be about 15, and that the idea of that society as one that worked better for men than women is a worldwide issue simply exemplified by life in Uganda: “What is amazing is that Harried decided, radically, to make it on her own.
“She is barely 30 when we meet her and she is so burdened by life, and she has to raise these children on her own because of the death of her husband.“And she is determined not to do this anymore, not to continue this cycle of bringing children into the world that she cannot afford. She knows that responsibility falls squarely on her shoulders and it means not remarrying, it means not resorting to that very easy way out.
“As much as there may be women who fall into that cycle, there are also those who are fighting against it, like Harriet.”