“The Woman King” (2022) is an epic historical fiction action film set in 1823 centered around the Agojie, an all-female military regiment for the Kingdom of Dahomey, whom Europeans called Dahomey Amazons and later inspired Black Panther’s Dora Milaje. Sick of paying tribute to the Oyo Empire and Mahi, who attack and enslave their people, General Nanisca (Viola Davis) convinces King Ghezo (John Boyega) to stop selling war captives and fight back. A new volunteer, Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), may hold the key to getting Nanisca to envision victory and dispel her fears.
I saw a preview for “The Woman King” in which Davis reassures the audience that the film is not just about fighting, but love, which is true; however I came for the fighting and was not disappointed. I did not expect to cry at the beginning of the film with the Agojie’s first appearance rescuing kidnapped people and killing their captors. It is the ultimate fantasy to live in a world where someone at least tried to rescue you before centuries of torture. The movie would have been better with even more violence. The denouement should have been longer.
After the opening scene, “The Woman King” uses Nawi, the latest recruit, as the main protagonist and viewer surrogate so the audience can get oriented to the Agojie’s way of life and realize how impressive they are through the eyes of a young woman being groomed to marry wealthy, abusive men. While the setting is unfamiliar, and there is no cruel hazing, we are accustomed to movies with newbies entering the military so it was a great way to make the film feel familiar to audiences. It is thrilling. Everything is just pure catharsis: images of women being free and powerful, getting stronger, healing each other’s bodies and spirits, becoming sisters and kicking ass. Imagine an extended cut of the Themyscira scenes from “Wonder Woman” (2017) for an entire movie, but they are real human beings. The vision of a merit based, pan African/pro-Black, all women military unit may be ahistorical, but it is the kind of aspirational fiction we need. I wanted the training scenes to be longer, but the battle scenes eventually reveal how a rope can be a weapon!
I expected Davis to bring her mournful eyes and flash a rare smile with a laugh occasionally following. Davis transforms herself into an impressive warrior who must fight on multiple fronts: fighting with the royal court, in the battlefield and herself. The majority of the first was left on the cutting room floor. It may have helped the story move faster if it was cut entirely, but I would have loved an extended version seeing how she was able to swim with sharks on and off the battlefield. Great warriors are not always able to leverage their sharp minds without weapons. Also it would have given us an opportunity to spend more time with the gorgeous multiple wives who used cunning as their weapon. The curtailed version sets up a dichotomy of style versus substance between the Agojie and the wives instead of indomitable foes on both fronts. I would have loved to spend more time with the eunuch, which is exactly as I picture them when they are referenced in the Bible.
I did not expect to be just as invested in the other Agojie fighters’ stories as I was with Namisca. Sheila Atim as Amenza, the Agojie’s spiritual leader and Nanisca’s friend, stands out as the movie progresses, and I would have loved to spend more time with her and other members who were former captives turned equals. There is one memorable line regarding why a former captive would choose such a hard life away from her people, “I would rather be the hunter than the prey.” If it was not for her distinctive eyes and eyebrows, I would not have recognized Lashana Lynch as Igozie, the most fearsome, swaggering, whiskey swilling Agojie who mentors Nawi, towers over everyone like a WNBA player and has the bluster of a prize fighter. Her story arc is so powerful, and at her lowest point, her internal strength made her untouchable. Lynch got the role of a lifetime and showed her considerable range,
“The Woman King” finally showcases John Boyega’s talents in a way that no other movie has before. Boyega plays King Ghezo with a commanding, sleek sexiness that he has been denied before. He attempted to show aspects of this side in his role in “Pacific Rim: Uprising” (2018), but still had to inject that nervous harried energy. Boyega is allowed to be completely unbothered despite harrowing circumstances, and it was nice to see him escape the gravity of the trope.
If you come expecting only victory, be prepared for implied sexual violence. Many viewers wonder if it is necessary, but I remember that when there were debates about women in the military, the question of women being raped if captured was a big point against it (spoiler alert-the rapists are in the house). It was necessary because it establishes that these fearsome warriors are just like the people whom Europeans forced to America. It adds dignity to the diaspora because no one should think of victim blaming, and it just makes it more difficult to do so. “The Woman King” not only tells the stories of triumph, but loss. The stakes are high—being enslaved with no control, and it depicts slavery as more of an abomination than many media images. The idea that anyone would look at a proud Agojie and treat that person like a thing or an animal speaks to the dementedness of the person, not the Agojie.
“The Woman King” also illustrates healing one’s inner child by making it literal in the narrative. These powerful women openly and without shame describe abuse. They find power in not suppressing the pain that they felt and acting on it in the present. The act of rescuing others reflects them being who they needed when they were younger. Is it a bit melodramatic and borrowing a page out of a soap opera? Maybe, but it works because it suggests healing generational trauma and breaking toxic cycles.
“The Woman King” is far from perfect. I did think that it lagged a bit before the denouement because of the romance. Malik (John Bolger), a descendant of a Portuguese father and Dahomey woman, becomes a love interest of Nawi despite Agojie being forbidden from having a man and children. It may be an unpopular opinion, but he represents our current beauty standards in terms of physique and shade. With all these muscular dark-skinned men around, would Nawi even find Malik attractive? Malik distracted from the main point of the movie even though he was a complete character on his own. Save him for another movie.
“The Woman King” is not historically accurate, which is not unusual for a Hollywood movie. The Dahomey were enslavers, and the retired Agojie could be as problematic for their community as some of our wounded veterans when they had no mission. Shout out to Maria Bello, who worked on the story and was pivotal in getting it made. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood and writer Dana Stevens managed to weave enough convention in an unconventional context that I hope that the film is commercially successfully so we can see some more.
