Viola Davis shines in true story of elite female fighting force

“The Woman King,” directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, tells the story of Nanisca, played by Viola Davis, general of the Agojie warriors – an elite, all-female fighting force. Set in the 1820s in the West African kingdom of Dahomey, present-day Benin, the film balances ferocious action with intimate moments, creating compelling characters and bringing to life a complex and little-known time and place.

Period pieces featuring predominantly Black characters from the 19th century are typically slave stories, harrowing tales of grief and loss set in the American South. By contrast, “The Woman King” shows us a world rich in resources and culture. The stellar cast delivers intimate portraits of the women of the Agojie, their ambitions, passions, and dignity.

Interest in the Agojie fighters, sometimes referred to as the Dahomey Amazons, increased after “Black Panther” depicted Wakanda’s fictional fighting force, thought to be loosely based on the Agojie. In “The Woman King,” we get an in-depth look, going inside the Agojie training compound to see what led women to join the forces, how they trained, and what they did to protect the kingdom from neighboring realms and European armies alike.

Africans’ role in the slave trade

The movie’s depiction of Dahomey’s participation in the transatlantic slave trade is rare in mainstream American film. It brings to light the complex role Africans played as traffickers and those trafficked, as advocates who expanded kingdoms through voracious slave trading and abolitionists who sought to end it.

Dahomey’s domestic economy was built on slavery and the gains from war. The kingdom engaged heavily in trading captives to other Africans and to Europeans, exchanging them for weapons to support itself in wars, to fend off neighbors, and to free itself from the yoke of the Oyo kingdom to the east. Additionally, the Dahomey paid annual tribute to the Oyo in the form of captives intended for slavery. 

Yet, while the film depicts Dahomey’s part in the transatlantic slave trade, it does not capture the full brutality resulting from it. Few Africans could have imagined the horror of chattel slavery that awaited captives across the ocean. While West African groups did participate in slavery, enslaved people were still seen as human beings with rights and opportunities to be freed in a variety of ways, depending on the kingdom. In contrast, people who were trafficked overseas were considered property under Colonial laws, controlled with horrific levels of violence and worked until their death in captivity.

Femininity’s strength

“The Woman King” also features a Black perspective on concepts of femininity and feminism. The characters don’t fall into the typical binary of strong and masculine or soft and feminine. Instead, they embody both strength and softness in ways that may feel familiar to many Black women today. In our own time, Black women are sometimes penalized for seeming too masculine, too aggressive, and yet they often face substantial inequities requiring them to fight for their rights. 

“The Woman King” reminds us that Black women come from a long line of fierce women. The Agojie were empowered elites answerable only to the king. They were early feminists, whose strength, power, and fearlessness were welcome and who wielded the same power as men, while retaining their unique identities as women. Called Mino, or mother, the Agojie warriors were highly respected among the Dahomey people. Their ferociousness was an important aspect of their femininity, not a contradiction of it. 

Hollywood depictions of Black people have too often been portrayed through a stereotypical white gaze, resulting in Black characters narrowly represented as slaves or brutes, jezebels or mammies, caricatures painted in racist brushstrokes – if they’re represented at all. More recently, increased diversity in casting has met with resistance. “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” released this month, drew backlash for its Latino elf and other nonwhite characters. A trailer for the remake of “The Little Mermaid” (2023), featuring a Black Ariel, has been met with cheers from little Black girls who see themselves represented in one of their favorite stories but complaints from others accusing studios of caving in to “woke” demands.

History’s diversity

“The Woman King” may spark interest in a largely unexplored past. But satisfying that desire would require studios to invest in more period pieces that delve into the richness of Black history. The onus for presenting the complexity of the slave trade should not rest on one film, but on all the studios that decide which historical periods and places are worth depicting on screen. 

Despite a growing commitment to diversity, Hollywood still has a long way to go to create nuanced and empowering images of Black people, by making space for more Black producers and writers and by greenlighting more projects that build a complete picture of our past.

Diverse representation does not mean sprinkling Black faces into existing shows. It means telling stories that center Black people where we can visualize our own history and a pathway to liberation. Just as the end of the civil rights era saw the rise of blaxploitation films, the social and political upheaval Black people have faced in recent years creates a craving – and market – for movies depicting Black power and beauty, particularly in the face of white supremacist attitudes and actions.

Black storytellers are creating opportunities to connect to our history and celebrate a lineage of power and self-determination. “The Woman King” plants the seeds for a new genre of movies that reframes the cultural power and legacy of Black people.

Susan X Jane works to create more equitable environments as the principal of Navigators Consulting. “The Woman King” is in theaters. The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing material, thematic content, brief language, and partial nudity.