NOW SHOWING: Woman King (2022)

 

                “Woman King” was inspired by a visit to Benin, Africa by actress Maria Bello.  There she learned about the female warriors of the kingdom of Dahomey.  These Amazons were called the Agojie.  Bello co-wrote the screen play with Dana Stevens and she became one of the producers.  Gina Prince-Bythewood directed.  She was influenced by “Last of the Mohicans”, “Gladiator”, and “Braveheart”, but the movie seems most similar to “300”.  The cast were put through weeks of martial arts training, running, and the use of swords and spears.  The movie was filmed in South Africa.

                The year is 1823. Agojie, led by Nanisca (Viola Davis), raid a camp to free some of their own people who had been captured in a slave raid.  The Dahomey are chafing at having to pay tribute to the Oya Empire.  Part of the tribute is slaves.  King Ghezo (John Boyega) wants to end that tribute.  This will mean war with the powerful Oya who are led by the ruthless General Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya).  The Oya have had more contact with Europeans and are armed with muskets.  Nanisca and Oba have a past which will be resolved in the coming war.  A new generation of Agojie are trained to participate in the war.  The movie has the mandatory training sequence.  One of the recruits is a feisty orphan named Nawi (Thuso Mbedu).  She is mentored by the seasoned Izogie (Lashana Lynch).  Nawi tends to bend the rules in the cinematic role of the maverick.  Nanisca sees something in the teenage girl, but is irked by her insubordination.  A subplot involves Portuguese slave traders.  The best friend of the villainous slave buyer befriends Nawi.   Malik (Jordan Bolger) is half-Dahomey and is open to switching sides.  After provoking the Oya, the Agojie must deal with a large Oya army that marches into Dahomey. 

                “Woman King” starts off with a clang as within minutes of the start, we get a vicious battle as Nanisca and her warriors bull rush a sleeping Oya camp. The battle is choreographed similar in style to modern sword melees.  The camera rushes from duel to duel, concentrating on the main characters.  It is vicious and frenetic and resembles “300”, but without the blood flying.  It’s still pretty graphic.  The war with the Oya is more of the same, on a larger scale.  It’s entertaining for action fans and for superhero movie fans because the movie is basically a superhero movie in a historical setting.  This is made more obvious when you compare the film to “Black Panther” with Dahomey standing in for Wakanda.  The Agojie inspired the Dora Milaje in that movie.  Nanisca is not a superhero in that she has no super powers, but she has the tormented personality of one.  The Agojie are her band of sisters and girl, they can kick male ass.  Not being a superhero fan, I was attracted to the premise of a war movie similar to one, but with some history thrown in.  I was disappointed that the movie offered no insight into military tactics used by African nations in the 19^th Century.  If you believe the movie, everything was frontal attacks resulting in melees.

                The strength of the movie is in the acting. The cast is solid, although Viola Davis was the only one I recognized.  She is perfect as Nanisca.  (Lupita Nyong’o turned down the role when she found out that the Dahomey were not like they are portrayed in the movie.)  Thuso Mbedu does a wonderful job as Nawi, effectively playing an outcast who is driven to earn a place in society.  Like all mavericks, she will violate the rules, but the film follows her into perils that make for good action scenes and escapes.  She may get on Nanisca’s nerves, but all can be forgiven as long as she wins.  (Ask Pete Mitchell.)  Their relationship is not stock and the interaction of the two characters is multi-faceted.  The villains (Oba and the slave trader) are not mustache-twirling.  Oba is formidable opponent.  Nansica has two duels with him.  Guess who wins the second.

                The plot of the movie breaks no new ground.  You’ve seen the basics in other war movies.  The underdog army faces a larger, more technically advanced, expansionist army.  The smaller power has an elite force.  Its leader has a lot of charisma.  There is a scarred warrior who mentors a feisty youngster.  There is a boot camp sequence with a montage.  There’s some palace intrigue.  I didn’t have any problems with these tropes because of the unique depiction of African warrior women.  However, Dahomey is made into a much more enlightened kingdom than it deserved.  The capital has a huge wall which symbolizes the fantasy that the plot has contrived.  The movie glosses over the fact that the Dahomey owned and traded slaves.  The Agojie free slaves, but don’t take any.  The screenplay defies reality by having Nanisca convince the King that they should stop taking fellow Africans as slaves and instead rely on the export of palm oil.  Sure, they want to be less wealthy and end a long tradition!  The film has a white savior in Malik. 

                In spite of the straying from history to paint a politically correct homage to the Agojie, the movie is well-made and black-washing the Agojie is better than no movie about them.  I’m sure the movie will cause some viewers to do some research on the fabled unit.  On second thought, maybe that’s not a good idea.  I did it for you below, but if you are looking for role models stick with Nansica, not her historical equivalent.

GRADE  =  B

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  The Kingdom of Dahomey existed from around 1600 to 1904.  It was located in western Africa.  It was a tributary of the Oya Empire and was required to pass on slaves to that power.  Dahomey also supplied slaves for the European slave trade, some of the Africans ended up in America.  It was inaccurate to have them backing off from capturing, selling, or using slaves.  In fact, it did not stop slave trading until 1852 when the Royal Navy put an end to it.  However, Dahomey did not stop owning slaves.  Dahomey was a military state ruled by an absolute monarch.  A documentary would not have shown them in a positive light.  For this movie to be accurate, there would have been no good guys (or gals). 

                As far as Amazon warriors (as Europeans called them), there is plenty of evidence for them.  Apparently, the creation of the unit was required because of the heavy casualties to the male warriors.  A King Houebadja recruited women who were elephant hunters.  They were called the Gbeto (also known as the Agojie).  His daughter Queen Hangbe is credited with expanding the unit in size and mission.  They were now her bodyguard.  There were about 600 women in the unit.  The members of the unit were a mixture of volunteers, captives, and women turned over by angry husbands and fathers (like Nawi).  They got training similar to the movie.  Some were armed with muskets, bows, or machete-like swords.  They led the army and helped in conquering other kingdoms.  These conquests were brutal.  It was not uncommon for them to return with severed heads. They were required to be celibate.  The romance between Nawi and Malik would never have happened.

                Nawi and Nanisca are fictional characters, but there was a King Ghezo who ruled from 1818-1858.  He expanded the unit to 6,000. He did fight the Oya and ended having to pay tribute to it.  The Agojie did urge him to increase the production of palm oil as an alternative to the slave trade (because the handwriting was on the wall now that Great Britain had intervened).  The Dahomey did not give up on owning slaves and continued slave raids. 

                It is obvious that research about the Dahomey was done to make this film.  It is also obvious that the screenplay had to change some facts to make the film viable at the box office.  Even with the bending over backwards to cast the kingdom and its female warriors in a positive light, the film had trouble getting financing.  It looks like the film will turn a profit (although I was the only one in the theater when I saw it).  Since making movies is a business and you want to put fannies in the seats, it makes sense that the movie does not reenact the annual sacrificing of hundreds of slaves in Dahoumey.  The movie doesn’t have a disclaimer, but it definitely was “inspired” by a true story.