Film

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the woman king

If you’ve seen the tense and surprising trailer beforehand, long before you settle into your seat at the theater, you know The Woman King is a film experience that will end in an epic battle of battles. But this is no fantasy film: The remarkable and complex story is based on the true events of the Agojie tribe of female warriors who fought to protect the West African kingdom of Dahomey 200 years ago.

The narrative journey begins in 1823 and is carried beautifully by the centerpiece performance of actress Viola Davis as the reluctant but determined General Nanisca, chosen first to lead and then to train a new era of fighters to follow her as the last chance for her kingdom’s independence while European slave traders exert more and more control.

The too-many-awards-and-nominationsto-count actress and Julliard School alumna is transformed physically and emotionally here in a triumphant survivor story that draws you in with the power of her pain and the intensity of her resulting convictions. Davis’ remarkable fierceness comes from Nanisca’s cruel understanding of the world’s realities, and her response to the twists of fate that the story throws at her yields powerful results.

Nanisca’s loyalty is to her tribe first and her king second, the latter played by actor John Boyega as Ghezo, the patient but authoritarian leader who sees Nanisca as an equal and his most trusted asset in the complicated game of loyalties which pits him against his fellow Africans in order to sustain his peace. “Let us be an empire that loves its people,” she tells him as they trade prisoners to the Spaniards instead of being enslaved themselves.

This slave-trade within the slave-trade is one of the film’s most complex themes, and it pushes the characters to unite for a cause they suddenly see as larger than themselves. Nanisca encourages her king to fight the Europeans and promises to provide him the womanpower to do so, saying simply, “We fight or we die.”

The ensemble also includes standouts Lashana Lynch as the rebelious Izogie, a right-hand confidante and spiritual leader of the King’s Guard, and Thuso Mbedu as the recruit-in-training Nawu and the future all these women are fighting to protect.

Much more emotional than a history lesson, the arc of the film is elegantly simple in that you’ve seen this battle film or war story before…but never like this. That’s because this is a survivor story, a call to arms, and a moral showdown as seen mainly from the perspective of women who lead, strategize, and fight unapologetically for their own lives and freedom, where it can be had.

The movie offers an entirely new perspective on long-uncomfortable history and brings another true storytelling notch in an increasing Hollywood interest in Afrocentric history and characters. (Note the paired release windows of The Woman King alongside the anticipated Black Panther follow up in Wakanda Forever from Ryan Coogler.)

Rated PG-13, there is enough on-screen violence to be cautious with young viewers, but with context and guidance the story can provoke meaningful conversations and understanding of the complicated themes.

Directed with personality and confidence by Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees) and produced and co-created by actress Maria Bello (ER), this project reinforces the potential and the rewards for allowing us to explore perspectives on screen that have long been hidden.