After T’Challa, the Dora Milaje, the all-woman Wakandan special forces unit, was a favorite of many who saw Black Panther. That interest led to many learning that the Dora Milaje was based on a real-life all-woman military regiment known as the Dahomey Amazons or the Agojie. That interest would be for naught due to the absence of available resources to learn more about them until now.
The Woman King is the first film dedicated to telling the story of Agojie. Starring Viola Davis and directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood, the film picks up in the 1820s as the Agojie begins to train a new wave of soldiers to defend the kingdom of Dahomey against an emerging threat.
We should be grateful for Black Panther and its success leading to more interest in the story of the Agojie, but leaving The Woman King in its shadow undersells what’s at hand. It’s proof of the excellence that can occur when Black women have a legitimate equitable opportunity to lead both in front of and behind the camera.
The pillar of this is Prince-Bythewood’s direction. With a script that goes all over the place (more on that later), she crafts what could have easily been a mess into a powerful, intelligible story: part coming-of-age, part action/adventure, and part historical epic. It’s a much bigger story than we have ever seen her helm, but Prince-Bythewood proves she is more than up to the task.
Prince-Bythewood pulls it off by showing the emotional and physical demands the women must conquer to become and remain soldiers in the Agojie instead of making them into Red Sonja or Xena with a tan sans sunburn. Using her gift of showing women characters in vulnerable states without compromising their strength, she ensures the Agojie characters are unique, complex, and developed while moving the plot forward at a solid pace.
For the battle aspects of Agojie duty, Prince-Bythewood draws from the style she used in The Old Guard – very physical with very little, if any, CGI. The Agojie training and fights have an authenticity that hammers home how skilled these women were as warriors.
The talented ensemble of women who make up the main cast are another potent element of The Woman King. Davis is the biggest name in the group, and she does not disappoint as General Nanisca, even with the physical rigors of combat added to her usual outstanding performance. Her co-lead, The Underground Railroad’s Thuso Mbedu, is equally impressive in handling her share of the heavy lifting as Nawi, the young Allen Iverson to Davis’s discipline and perfection-driven John Thompson.
However, the performances of two supporting cast members left the strongest impression. Lashana Lynch and Shelia Atim are more endearing than the leads with a fraction of the screen time. Lynch’s performance as Izogie, Nawi’s guide and voice of reason, is a mix of wit, deft fighting, and a depth that shows she is more than deserving of a lead role soon, regardless of genre. Atim offers the same as Amenza, Nansica’s closest confidant, albeit on a more limited basis.
While Blythe-Prince’s directing and the cast’s performances are hallmarks, the writing gets dangerously close to derailing the film. Written by veteran actress Maria Bello and veteran screenwriter Dana Stevens, the story and screenplay start well as they create a realistic depiction of the Agojie women and the kingdom of Dahomey. They even include the politics of the day as well as Dahomey’s role in slave trading.
The problems lie in what appears to be an attempt to modernize the story with two Tyler Perryesque plot points that aren’t necessary to tell the story. Getting specific about those plot points would be major spoilers, but the film would have still been a very dignified and captivating telling of a history that has gone untold for far too long. Thankfully, the cast does such a fantastic job acting out those parts of the film that they become a forgivable offense.
Like the women it honors, The Woman King shows that Black women may not be magical, but they can make magic when given a chance. By opting to tell the Agojie story through a lens of realism instead of something close to a superhero story, The Woman King succeeds in telling a story that gives their extraordinary legacy the film it deserves. It inspires the audience by showing that everything the Agojie accomplished came from who they were through uncompromising training and mental and emotional toughness, not mythical or supernatural powers.
Prince-Blythewood once again strikes gold with a larger story and budget, further proving there aren’t any limits to the stories she can tell. Davis and Mbedu complement each other well as they carry most of the film, but Lynch’s and Atim’s presence is felt in their respective supporting parts. There’s no need to catch this one in a premium format, but make sure you watch it somewhere.
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