The Woman King

I recently watched the film “The Woman King”. When I first saw the trailer a couple of months ago I was super excited, a film about African history which does not focus on black victimisation. I decided a few years ago to no longer watch black history films which focus on the pain and suffering of black people, this includes slavery films and films about racism. I'm tired of the narrative of black people being victims, when we literally have a whole history which does not involve us suffering at the hands of white people. 

Before the film came out  I noticed that there was controversy surrounding the film. I saw people complain about the film's title and said it should have been called “Queen” instead as the title is masculinising a black woman. In many African languages, including my own, there is no word for “Queen”, the literal equivalent word when translated into English would be “woman king”. I believe that is why this film has that title. A further criticism is that the film portrays dark skin Black woman as masculine as a lot of Hollywood films generally do. Black women are very nuanced and are not monolithic. This film is about female warriors so of course they will be masculine. The Kings wives in this film were feminine and lived a very soft life.

Another criticism I saw is that the film glorifies the Dahomey who were slave traders (this is why some people boycotted this film). Prior to this film I was aware of the Dahomey tribe and their female military. The Dahomey tribe were  heavily involved in the slave trade as they generated a lot of wealth from it. They were brutal and would engage in human sacrifice.  The film does show their involvement in the trade, but the leader of the Agojie Nanisca seemed to be against the slave trade. In the end they are made to be the heroes as they free captives. People need to realise that this is a Hollywood film which purpose is to entertain an audience. Though the film is based on true events, such as King Gezo who did exist, the Dahomey war with the Oyo tribe which actually happened and the Dahomey wanting to trade palm wine with the Portuguese, it is not a documentary so we cannot expect it to be historically accurate. Some things in the film would have definitely been made up and dramatised for entertainment purposes. 

I liked the journey of Nawi, a young woman who refuses to get married off to an old abusive rich man, so her father gives her to the king.  She joins the Kings Guard and trains to become an Agojie warrior. She is stubborn, funny and speaks her mind. She also questions Dahomey traditions, such as why Agojie women can never marry and have families of their own but male warriors can. We watch her grow as a person and become a strong warrior.

Nanisca is the the general of the Agojie. She is strong and fierce. We do get to see her vulnerable side as she was a victim of rape. It is later revealed that she is Nawi's mother, when Nawi is captured by the Oyo to be sold into slavery. Nanisca goes against the King's order to go and save her daughter.

One of the key characters in the film is Malik, the son of a Dahomey slave and a white Brazilian Portuguese father. When Portuguese/Spanish slave owners had a child with a female slave, the child would take on the heritage of their father who would raise them, they would not become a slave. Malik accompanies his childhood friend who is a slave trader to Dahomey in order to see his mothers roots. He is immediately uncomfortable when he sees the slave square. During the film he falls for Nawi,  and does what he can to protect her. He is torn because he is loyal to his Portugeuse friend but his heart is loyal to his Dahomey people. In the end he chooses the Dahomey people over his childhood friend. His character shows the complexities of being biracial, e.g. struggling with identity, never fully fitting in, being forced to pick a side, being caught in the middle.

The film was amazing, I enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoyed seeing the Dahomey culture and practices, the perfectly executed war scenes, the strength and power of the Africans, especially at the end when they fought against the European slavers/colonisers and won.  This is a narrative which is not shown in Hollywood films. I believe this film will make people do their own research into the Kingdom of Dahomey and to learn black history for themselves. I'm glad a film like this was made, I hope that more films about black history (not black victimisation) are made in future.