In The Woman King, we meet one of the inspiration for the all-female Dora Milaje regiment that guards Wakanda in Black Panther (2018). The Agojie were among the military units serving the kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) in West Africa between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Woman King places these real-life wonder women at the front and centre of socio-political upheaval in Dahomey in 1823.
Gina Prince-Bythewood, fresh off the acclaim for The Old Guard, conjures up a period epic that acknowledges contemporary debates on racism, gender justice and slavery. The 135-minute film is based on a story by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello and a screenplay by Stevens.
The Agojie are led by Nanisca (Viola Davis), a fierce warrior who has never forgotten the lessons of a brutal past. Among the Agojie are Izogie (Lashana Lynch), who declares that the only good thing ever to have come out of Africa’s encounter with white Europeans is whiskey. Izogie becomes a big sister-like mentor to the young recruit Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), whose training is plagued by self-doubt.
The recruitment is necessitated by threats to Dahomey’s king Ghezo (John Boyega) from the Oyo Empire, which is working closely with European slavers. Nansica comes to play an important role in determining the direction the slave trade will take.
Prince-Bythewood has at her disposal a stellar cast, immersive camerawork by Polly Morgan, and a talent for staging rousing action sequences. She deftly manoeuvres the film past invented situations and an idealised depiction of Dahomey’s own role in selling its people to Europe as slaves.
Among the false notes is a sub-plot revolving around Nawi’s entanglement with a Portuguese trader. Nansica’s outsized role in influencing her king’s decisions comes from a place that imagines women in leadership positions as righteous, just, and morally unimpeachable (for good measure, Ghezo’s harem includes a busybody who resents Nansica’s lack of deference). Nansica’s loyalty to Ghezo precludes the possibility the Agojie are convenient pawns for their king, to be thrown into battle at will.
The film overcomes its determination to be an inspirational blast from the past, filled with female role models and exemplars of Africans taking charge of their destinies. Fight sequences mesh seamlessly with memorable female bonding moments.
Warm performances by the deeply committed cast – apart from Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu are the standouts – result in a giddy mix of fact, fiction and fantasy. Fictional films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Black Panther and Wonder Woman prove that female characters make excellent action heroines. The Woman King persuasively suggests that when women were actually in charge, they did just fine too.