The Woman King has emerged as one of the most controversial and uplifting films of the recent film cycle. Viola Davis, who plays the General Nanisca,  has revisited the story of the Agojie warriors of Dahomey ((also known as the Agojie, Agoji, Mino or Minion) and restructured the story for a modern audience. The result is an epic tale that speaks to the way film works to recreate the historical past even as it reflects on our contemporary realities. The Woman King strikes an important balance between the historical past and the needs of the contemporary present and in doing so, offers a wonderful mosaic of the two.

Much of the controversy about The Woman King lies in what some argue is the movie's lack of historical authenticity. The story is complicated to be sure. Unlike the unambiguous anti- slavery heroines we see in the film,  The Dahomey female warriors and the Kingdom of Dahomey worked tirelessly to advance the slave trade. King Ghezo, portrayed by John Boyega of Star Wars fame and most recently the main character in the movie Breaking, and the Agojie were responsible for the expansion of the slave trade. The kingdom’s wealth from 1720-1850 derived primarily from selling enslaved people to the Portuguese, French and British. In fact, the basis of wealth for the Dahomeans was the slave trade, and more than 1 million enslaved people embarked from Ouidah, also known as Whydah, the country's main slaving port. This fact is sobering. However, the film is not that story. It is not a historical documentary about African participation in the Slave Trade, the Kingdom of Dahomey or the Agojie.  It is a fictional recreation that essentially uses the story of these female warriors as a point of entry into a more contemporary understanding of African women, the Africa slave trade and ideas of freedom and equality.

The Woman King works at several levels to expand our perceptions of Africa and African women. While it is common to think of Africa and African women as one-dimensional due to the stereotypical presentation of Africa in the media, this film shows us something different. Rather than a prostrate Africa rife with problems of famine, military conflict and instability, we see a stable and orderly 19th century Africa complete with clear lines of authority and stable political, social and cultural life. African women are also active participants in their society. Contemporary images reduce African women to victims of genital mutilation, kidnap victims as in the well documented Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria or a passive appendage of men shuttered off from society due to arcane and anti-modern views or beliefs. These views limit our understanding of Africa and reduce African woman to one-dimensional caricatures.

The Woman King gives viewers a very different perspective. At the movie’s outset, we are introduced to the female warriors engaged in a raid. They are well-organized and lethal fighting force. They make quick work of their enemy, free the captives and return to the village. Once there, we see a well laid out Dahomean city. We also enter the compound of the female warriors, which is entirely apart from the rest of the society. The strong supporting cast of actresses is stunning. Lashana Lynch, who made appearances in the Bond films, plays Izogie, second in command of the Agojie and Shelia Atim, a standout in the Netflix adaptation of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, as Amenza, a confidant of Nanisca. In the compound,  the women nurture pride, strength and resilience. They talk, learn and train together. They strengthen the ties of sisterhood. They are truly Warrior women.

Not surprisingly, the film ultimately revolves around the love between a mother and her child. A familiar refrain in film but an entirely practical storyline.  One of the young recruits who seems rebellious and headstrong from the outset has a special relationship with Nanisca. We find out in the course of the story that she is Nanisca's daughter, Nawi, ably played by Thuso Mbedu, the main character in the Underground Railroad. A product of rape during capture, Nanisca, her mother, has to make a difficult decision regarding whether to abort the child or give birth. She cannot bear a child and remain a warrior. Ultimately, she marks the child with a birthmark, a shark's tooth embedded in her shoulder, and it is given away by a friend unknown to the mother. This is a decision that historically women have had to grapple with. Given the current debate over a woman’s right to choose in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the movie is very timely. It invites the viewer to see the challenges woman, especially Black women face in their lived experience.


The movie’s crowning achievement is casting new light on the universal nature of liberty and freedom. Aware that Nawi  and several members of her army were left behind or captured in a major engagement, Nanisca is forced to choose between her duty and family. She opts for the latter and bravely defies the King’s orders and goes to the slave trading port. This bold effort exposes the horrific treatment of African people awaiting transport at the coast. The captured were held in pens and deprived of basic necessities. The port town serves as a window into the problematics of the slave trade. We are introduced to a Brazilian  slave trader and merchant Francisco Felix De Souza. Although historically complicit in the sale of Africans to the West and the individual who helped King Ghezo to ascend to the throne of Dahomey in a coup d'état, in the film he appears as a reluctant hero. He  symbolizes the impact of the slave trade and its role in the production of a buffer class of children whose loyalty lies between two worlds: Africa and Europe. Desouza is part Dahomean and Portuguese. In the film, he assists Nawi and provides for her protection and shelter.

The movie does an excellent job, in its closing moments , of showing the quest for freedom and universal liberty. Not only do the female warriors rescue their fellow soldiers from the grasp of slave holders, but in the process they destroy the entire slave port. In many ways this signals the determination of Africans and by extension African Americans to live free. It also demonstrates that women are in the forefront of significant change in African societies. It is not surprising that the story ends with the triumphal return of the female warriors to Dahomey. King Ghezo not only outlaws the slave trade, but elevates Nanisca to Woman King. The broader message is women are important contributors to stability and harmony. They possess all of the skills to lead a society if only given the chance. Does this mirror the challenges we face on contemporary society: yes, it does.  We need to draw on the lessons of this movie to create a more hopeful and inclusive tomorrow.