The Woman King: An Insightful Look At Little-Known History

Historical dramas have an important role in the preservation of not just the literal visual of history, but also the context that both the event and the presentation of the event occur in. For example, Watchmen
on HBO a few years back opened with a presentation of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. While the scene was important for the context of events within the show (which is fantastic and should be watched if one has not yet), it also taught a large portion of the population about this horrific event. The Woman King, while historical fiction, does a fantastic job of telling audiences the story of the Agojie and what set them apart from other warriors of the era.

The Woman King follows Nanisca (Viola Davis) who is a general in the kingdom of Dahomey that oversees an elite all-female group of warriors called the Agojie. Her job is to train the next generation of warriors to help fight in their war against the Oyo Empire and the invading Portuguese slave traders.

Everything about the movie functions as well as possible. The production design and costumes look great and the performances are all as good as one would expect from the likes of Viola Davis, John Boyega, and Lashana Lynch. The choreography for the action sequences make them engaging to watch and the scale of said sequences is massive, making the battles feel real. The only real issue with the film comes from the edit of certain scenes during some of the more intimate moments of the battle sequences. The movie is PG-13, however based on how scenes are cut, it is apparent that this movie does have an R-rated edition that would have some of the person-on-person fight sequences feel framed slightly better. Plus, the amount of gore and blood does not exactly match the brutality of the fight sequences which can take viewers out of the experience. Not every movie needs to be over-the-top with the human viscera, however if the look and feel of the movie indicates that there would be more blood, it is jarring when it’s not there.

The other issue that is worth addressing is not even entirely with this movie but with a certain subset of viewers that applies a double standard to films based on the racial makeup of the cast. One of the common complaints coming into this movie, anecdotally corroborated outside the internet by the audience reactions to the trailer in theaters, was that certain viewers had an issue with the historical accuracy of the narrative. Like most historical dramas, historical epics, and biopics, liberties are taken to make the narrative palatable to the largest possible audience. For example, Elvis does not accurately portray the age discrepancy between Elvis Presley and Priscilla, considering that in reality she was 14 when they met. Blonde
also debuts this month on Netflix and fictionalizes Marilyn Monroe’s life to the point that the movie is NC-17 rated fan fiction, however the only complaints about the movie that have been vocal are that Ana De Armas is Cuban. The point is that the “historical accuracy” argument has really only ever been used to attack the legitimacy of movies that feature predominantly non-white casts.

All of that said, The Woman King is shaping up to be the strongest theatrical offering for the month of September, considering that the remaining competition is in the form of Don’t Worry Darling next weekend. This movie has the human interest and the visual spectacle combination that makes it a theatrical must-see in the largest format possible. It is now playing in area theaters and should be remaining for the foreseeable future.

Final rating: 9/10