THE WOMAN KING

‘The Woman King’ is set in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey (now known as the Republic of Benin) during the 1820s.

It chronicles the story of the ‘Agojie’, an all-female group of warriors who protect the kingdom. They are fierce, vowed to a life of celibacy, and no man is allowed into their training ground. They are sworn to a life of allegiance to the king and protection of the kingdom, They are led by a leader, General Nanisca, a most fierce and combative leader, she stops at nothing in rescuing captives of Dahomey from other lands, also ‘rescuing’ other captives of other lands, some of these captives who are willing are enlisted in the Agojie to become female warriors while others with no interest are allowed to go off into marriage. With increasing numbers, the fame of the incessant victories’ of the warriors grow to other neighboring lands, of which is the mighty Oyo Empire who they have a tributary pact with which Includes the use of the Ouidah Port as a slave route. The kingdom is torn between paying the tribute, which comes with a heavy trade tax, or not paying, which is a declaration of war. The Dahomey King, King Ghezo seeks to end slavery and replace it with the palm oil trade, he is however told explicitly by members of his court, “no one fears a ruler of peasants”. To raise an army strong enough to dare the Oyo army, the leader of the Agojie, General Nanisca, is tasked with training a new generation of warriors to fight against the enemy.

The plot  further deepens when Nawi, a 19 years old girl, refuses to bow to culture by being a child bride. So her father gives her off to the Agojie. She is taken to the palace of women, where no men are allowed. Her presence in the army changes the course of events in the war and series of drama that is to come.

Well, let’s be totally honest, not many historical movies look into the pre and colonial era exploits of the black race in a positive light. Films like ‘Roots’, ‘The Birth of a Nation and, more recently, ‘The Underground Railroad’ all tell of that dark era with an undertone of a conquest of the black race, however, ‘The Woman King’ contravenes this notion. The movie is one rare opportunity that sheds light on the collaboration of Africans in one of perhaps the darkest tragedies of humanity: the slave trade, but the movie gives the African continent a voice during this period, and this is not something we see always in movies of this nature.

The historical epic is a joint production of production companies TriStar Pictures, Welle Entertainment, JuVee Productions, Entertainment One, and TSG Entertainment II and distributed by Sony Pictures. The movie was released to Cinemas on September 16, 2022. The budget of the movie was pegged at $50 million and sold to the Box Office for $38.5 million

The movie does host a lot of of actors of African descent with Hollywood veteran and Oscar winner, Viola Davis(Gen. Nanisca) playing the lead role, with African-British Actors, Lashana Lynch(Izogie), Sheila Atim(Amenza), and John Boyega (King Ghezo), also South African actress, Thuso Mbedu (Nawi) and Nollywood star Jimmy Odukoya(Oba), amongst many others.

The story was written by Maria Bello & Dana Stevens, and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

The Woman King really does deserve a lot of accolades and applause for a movie well shot and beautifully scripted. The location did communicate that rich African culture and setting of the particular time period being portrayed, the screenplay was quite intriguing as we were left glued to our seats while always eagerly anticipating the next move or scene. It was really worth the time. A beautiful thing also noticed was that the theatrics and stunts were not overly choreographed, not something seen in most films of this nature, the directing was top notch.

Okay, while we must laud the incredible and beautiful production and delivery of this masterpiece, however, reservations begin to set in. Firstly, the movie does seem as a move for ‘Women Empowerment’ than to tell the accurate story as portrayed in history, this becomes a major setback. The Agojie were not regarded as freedom fighters in history as portrayed in the movie, they were recorded to be ruthless and vicious killers and oppressors  who not only defended their kingdom and fight to rescue their people in captivity, but invaded other towns and villages unjustly, killing and enslaving them. History is not kind to this female sect, however, the movie does portray them otherwise. One thing is quite clear, the movie bypasses the true story, but leverages on their fierceness to push for ‘Women Empowerment’, and did they do a good job? Emphatically yes, we did love it!

Also, while we acknowledge a massive input every actor put in this, it did seem some struggled a bit with that rich African accent, well, let’s cut them some slack, these are actors who most of them grew up outside Africa, they did a very great job, however, the speech factor cannot be fully hidden. My goodness! where did John Boyega come from with that rich African accent? He killed that role unarguably, it almost did seem he had lived in Africa all his life, not until later, I had presumed he lives in Africa to be that good in that accent.

The movie revolves around the themes of war, ruthlessness, royalty, vengeance, unity, regret, love, passion, and compassion.

Stand Out Performer(s)- Viola Davis & John Boyega

Your expectations are so high when you know you’re about to stay glued to your screen watching an Oscar winner for about 2hrs, Viola Davis did not fall short of expectations, she delivered her role with so much proficiency and grandeur. It’s definitely not an easy task taking up the role she did, she delivered superbly! On the flip side would be John Boyega, to be singled out in a movie with such stellar cast as this for some impeccable acting is no small feat, he did really execute his role beyond excellence. Almost everyone wants to be able to relate with a character, and John Boyega did not let us down. However, every other cast in this movie also get an ‘A’

Can-do-better Performer(s)- Nil

Gina Prince-Bythewood does not seem like one who would have wanted to take chances on this, so her careful selection of the cast for the various roles paid off. No cast falls into this category in our opinion.