A film review by Craig J. Koban October 7, 2022

THE WOMAN KING ½ 

2022, R, 135 mins.

Viola Davis as Nanisca  /  Thuso Mbedu as Nawi   /  Lashana Lynch as Izogie  /  Sheila Atim as Amenza  /  John Boyega as King Ghezo  /  Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Santo Ferreira

Gina Prince-Bythewood's THE WOMAN KING is an ultra rare historical swords and sandal epic that digs into 19th Century West Africa and concerns an all-female warrior squadron.  These warriors in question were the Agojie that protected the kingdom of Dahomey during the 1700s through 1800s (the film focuses squarely on the latter century).  They're one of the very few documented female armies in recorded history, and something that even I (with my history degree) was not altogether familiar with heading into THE WOMAN KING.  

Although there have been some liberties taking with actual history here (more on that in a bit), Prince-Bythewood nevertheless helms this film with a sturdy, headstrong confidence and crafts an engaging story and exceptionally rousing and brutal set-pieces that deserve some worthy comparisons to male-driven historical dramas like GLADIATOR and BRAVEHEART before it.  And, of course, how rare indeed is it to have a film of this magnitude directed by a woman, scripted by a woman, and told from the African woman perspective and the inseparable bonds that exist between women?

THE WOMAN KING opens in staggeringly good fashion in Dahomey of the 1820s, during which time we see a group of men nestled by a campfire in a field during the evening.  Everything seems serene, but it's really just the calm before the proverbial storm as a ferocious Agojie general, Nanisca (played by the always commanding Viola Davis) emerges from the shadows with her all-female troops in tow and proceed to slaughter the unsuspecting men with relative ease (it should be noted that the women around the men in this village remain unharmed and that Nanisca's sole mission is to rescue captured kin).  After saving and freeing these Dahomey women (that were abducted by the slave trading Oya Empire), Nanisca and her clan return home and are greeted with a hero's welcome by King Ghezo (a solid and well cast John Boyega), who nurtures and respects the bravery and power of his Agojie fighters, and Nanisca and her platoon will stop at nothing to defend their King and lands from any invader large or small, including their neighboring tribe of Oyo, who want Africa all to themselves and use barbaric means to kidnap whomever they want to sell them off to European slavers. 

Nanisca may not have political aspirations, but she's keenly aware of the power dynamics and problems that exist between Dahomey and Oyo, and she keeps her fighter clan a well oiled and tightly knit unit; her troops and confidants include Amenza (Shiela Atim) and Izogie (Lashana Lynch), not to mention a newcomer recruit in Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), who fled persecution and arrived at Dahomey's well fortified doors looking for asylum.  Seeing a passionate fire in this young girl's eyes, Nanisca decides that Nawi could potentially be Agojie material and allows her to join a new squad of recruits that all want to prove that they have the right stuff, so to speak.  Slowly, but surely, Nawi proves her worth as a dedicated and cunning soldier to Nanisca, who becomes more closely drawn to this newcomer by the day (for reasons not initially explained), but keeps an emotional distance that her role as a general requires.  Inevitably, bad blood between the Dahomey and Oyo spill over into heated battle, which leads to Nawi being separated from her sisters in arms and becoming incarcerated by an enemy that has plans to either exterminate her or sell her off to the highest European bidder.  Nanisca - being obsessively loyal and protective of her warriors - wants to launch a clandestine rescue mission, but King Ghezo vetoes that request, leading to conflict on the home front.   

The horrors of war and slavery are certainly placed front and center in THE WOMAN KING, not to mention the escalating tensions that begin to simmer between the once mutually respecting Nanisca and King Ghezo, the latter of whom simply wants to see his kingdom prosper despite knowing that forces outside of it are conspiring daily to destroy it at any moment.  I think we have to talk about the elephant that's in the room here when discussing the film's historical accuracy (or more aptly inaccuracy).  THE WOMAN KING is certainly guilty of glossing over some key elements of Dahomey, like the fact that this kingdom also dabbled in the enslavement of their conquered enemies and sold them into the Atlantic slave trade.  Most of the wealth and prosperity that this kingdom derived was from slavery.  Also, the Agojie were complicit in slave raiding for Dahomey as well.  There's certainly a strong claim to be made that THE WOMAN KING minimizes King Ghezo's stance and participation in slavery within his own land (he became rich off of the sale of his captured Africans).  Now, a counter argument could be made that THE WOMAN KING should not be taken literally as a fully authentic historical document, no differently than, say, how Ridley Scott and Mel Gibson took liberties with facts in GLADIATOR and BRAVEHEART respectively.  The latter 1995 Best Picture winner was more of a fictionalized account of the tale of William Wallace within the larger prism of history built around him, and that's what I think that Prince-Bythewood is attempting here when it comes to showing the Dahomey revolting against the Oya Empire and how the Agojie were instrumental in all of this.  I'm not condoning any film for being distractingly fast and loose with history, mind you, but relative to the genre curve - and when compared to critical darlings of the past - I think that this should not be a large negative levied against THE WOMAN KING. 

The film's major achievement - historical revisionism aside - is that it places a spotlight on what many going in will probably consider to be an extremely obscure - but worthy and important - piece of African history that, again, is shown through a woman's viewpoint.  That alone needs to be championed.  We are in a relative Golden Age now of films with distinct Black voices that deal with the Black experience (in one form or another), but consider that THE WOMAN KING is a war film...and an action film...and a historical drama that's totally honed in on its female personas versus the men (which, let's be honest, make up a majority of these type of genre efforts).  Prince-Bythewood is wise enough to inject her film with the requisite commercial elements alongside having a clear social conscious about the underlining material, which leaves THE WOMAN KING not only being a rousing piece of entertainment (as far as historical epics go), but also one that has time for big ideas and themes that are at the core of the women contained within.  The most crucial ingredient here is the inner psychology and dynamic of these Amazonian-esque fighters and their clan.  Thankfully, the film portrays these women as the fearlessly determined and gallant soldiers that they were while also showing them as nurturing and considerate.  Nanisca may be a nightmarishly intimidating presence that commands fear in her troops, but she loves them all as sisters and would do anything for them, which also commands great respect from them. 

Viola Davis is perhaps incapable of giving a truly bad performance.  The Oscar winning thespian has always been known for imbuing her roles (and roles of such wonderful variety) with a depth of feeling and soft spoken power that allows for her to stand toe-to-toe with just about any other actor and, in turn, own the scene.  Not only is Davis stunningly jacked up and easily comes off as a thoroughly plausible soldier that could mop the floor with men twice her size, but she also never makes Nanisca a gruff, tough, and monosyllabic one-note action heroine either.  Her coldly threatening facade masks a whirlwind of past grief, which the screenplay sneakily delves into as the film progresses.  The main connective character/story tissue is between the older, wiser, and more world weary Nanisca and her new greenhorn recruit in Nawi.  Thuso Mbedu (astoundingly 31-years-old, but easily passing for someone in their late teens as shown here) matches her more veteran co-star when it comes to being a teeth-clenched and battle hardened fighter alongside baring her own emotional scars.  And as secrets are revealed and both women come together because of a shared piece of past trauma THE WOMAN KING becomes more dramatically rich and fulfilling as a result. 

As good as the core story between Nanisca and Nawi is in the film, the screenplay does unfortunately make a couple of key missteps, like introducing a biracial Portuguese man, Malik (Jordan Bolger), that's caught up within the political and social upheaval between his country's slave trading interests and his growing relationship and later loving bond with Nawi.  I would say that the larger sin committed by THE WOMAN KING - outside of its watering down of some historical elements - is the inclusion of this completely unnecessary love story between these two lost souls separated both geographically and ideologically (and it's not that the actors have bad chemistry or are not good together on screen, but rather that their romance is so achingly inconsequential compared to the larger issues at play).  Furthermore, THE WOMAN KING demands great patience from viewers early on, especially when it comes to expositional setup and clearly defining the particulars of this corner of history that I'm quite sure most in attendance are not familiar with at all.  There's a good hour or so of background information dumping when it comes to the various warring tribes, their leadership, and the Agojie themselves, which is needed, yes, but may have some sitting restlessly in their theater seats trying to process it all.