An all-female regiment of elite warriors protects their land from invaders in The Woman King. But when a nearby kingdom gathers strength, a new group of candidates is tasked with training for the Agojie. Among them is a young, determined warrior who will make the Agojie leadership question their methods.
The Woman King
Gina Prince-Bythewood (director), Dana Stevens (writer), Polly Morgan ASC (cinematography), Terilyn Shropshire ACE (editor)
Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, John Boyega (cast)
September 9, 2022 (TIFF)
Content warning: sexual assault, racism, enslavement
Nanisca (Viola Davis) is the greatest Agojie warrior and in the running for the role of the Woman King, to be appointed by the king of Dahomey, Ghezo (John Boyega). Dahomey is under threat by the Oyo tribe and Ghezo has the added job of undoing his late brother’s work—the selling of Africans to white slavers.
After the Agojie suffer heavy losses to the Oyo Empire, Nanisca begins the process of adding to their numbers. Enter Nawi (Thuso Mbedu). She hasn’t been the daughter her father wants—aka she won’t marry some abusive old man. Nawi is summarily handed over to the Agojie. Joke’s on the dad, Nawi is in awe of the Agojie. She doesn’t just want to join them; she wants to be the best. The road to becoming Agojie is hard on the body and mind—there are unbreakable rules to follow if you want to succeed. And Nawi has never been one to follow the rules.
The Woman King was the film I most wanted to watch at TIFF 2022. I couldn’t catch the world premiere but managed to see another screening. And it was packed. Not surprising considering the cast. Plus, have we not all been waiting for an action film about women warriors fighting white invaders?
I was completely engrossed in the film from the first scene onwards. The story opens with a fight scene and it only gets better from there. I must say, I’m relieved the film was fairly bloodless. Despite the sometimes-gruesome violence that’s alluded to, there’s no spraying blood or gore. It made the film that much easier to engage with, at least for me.
There are several aspects of the Agojie’s way of life that I loved seeing. Their rituals for preparing for battles, celebrating victories, and for accepting incoming warriors are all colourful and lively affairs. These hardened warriors have their rules but they also have fun.
I particularly loved all the dancing. It’s one of the ways the Agojie train and bond. Visually, the dancing was beautiful to look at and got my heart pumping. But it was also a great technique for transitions between tense sequences and moments of lightheartedness. More than anything else, the dancing was a gorgeous method for The Woman King to revel in the culture of Dahomey.
There are a lot of characters in the film and each one is an absolute gem. I wanted to spend more time with everyone. But this story belongs almost entirely to Nawi and Nanisca. But I don’t think it needed to go in that direction. I actually felt the Nawi and Nanisca bonding storyline took away from other more interesting elements and made the film feel more like a Hollywood action film. I found the hints about palace politics so intriguing but there’s so little of it in the film.
There’s also a romantic plot in The Woman King, curtailed though it may be, that I was least interested in. Why does Hollywood have to stick a straight romance into every film? Let these ladies just cut people’s heads off and dance, please.
Speaking of romance, how are there this many hot women living in a commune and none of them are queer? There’s one queer character but they’re only an aide in the periphery of the story. None of the Agojie have romances with each other. None of them are even the slightest bit queer. The entire cast has insane chemistry with each other (and they’re all so incredibly attractive). This seems like such a massive missed opportunity.
I’ve noticed a pattern with a lot of the films I’ve seen at TIFF 2022. A lot of them just can’t stick the landing. The Woman King definitely doesn’t have that problem. It sticks the landing, and very well. The last act is all kinds of epic. The action sequence is edge-of-the-seat stuff but it’s what comes after that had the entire theatre cheering. You know that feeling when a film is building up to something and you genuinely don’t know what the outcome is going to be? And then you finally have that answer, and it’s a good one? That’s what The Woman King does. It’s that moment you always wait for in action movies and I love that the payoff in this film is so satisfying.
There is one aspect of The Woman King that I really didn’t like—how often the threat of sexual assault was used against the Agojie. Far too many of the Agojie’s backstories are also about surviving sexual violence. It’s at times relentless and I was very uncomfortable. I can understand the historical context and the need to remind the audience that the Agojie were real but it’s just so pervasive. And these threats drive up the stakes in the film for all the Agojie. I just wanted to watch a film about powerful, determined women running their machetes through bad guys and the constant reminders that even these women weren’t safe in their world was deeply upsetting.
Considering the subject matter, there’s still a fair amount of humour in the film, primarily from Lashana Lynch’s Izogie, the no-nonsense lead trainer who befriends Nawi. Lynch’s comic timing is perfect—Izogie was the catalyst for a lot of laughter in the theatre. Lynch also has a commanding presence in the fight scenes. The camera couldn’t help but follow her and neither can the audience.
Sheila Atim’s Amenza is the heart of The Woman King. Atim portrays the warrior as understanding, a friend in a sea of fighters. Her chemistry with both Viola Davis and Lynch is spectacular and I was honestly surprised that somehow none of the characters were queer in the film.
John Boyega is the only man with a significant role in the film and it’s obvious he’s having the time of his life. Boyega’s Ghezo is larger than life, an affluent king who isn’t afraid to flaunt his indulgences. But Ghezo is also determined to protect his kingdom and the best way to do that is to give the leader of the Agojie, Nanisca, the benefit of the doubt when she has some interesting ideas. Boyega strikes a good balance between self-absorbed kingliness and compassionate ruler.
Mbedu does a lot of the heavy-lifting in The Woman King. She’s practically the protagonist, in my opinion. As such, she’s got to do training montages, build relationships with the other characters, be an audience stand-in, have a romance with a character, be rescued, and be the hero. It’s asking a lot from an actor but she’s more than up for the challenge. Despite the massive names around her, Mbedu more than holds her own on screen. She was the star of The Underground Railroad, so her abilities are hardly surprising but the scale of an action film is still massive and Mbedu executes the role with aplomb.
Viola Davis is amazing. Of course, she is. She’s Viola Davis. But I desperately want someone to write a role for Davis where she just gets to laugh, crack jokes, and be happy. The Woman King’s Nanisca was like watching How To Get Away With Murder’s Annalise Keating in 1823, except her case notes were replaced by a machete. Why does Hollywood always want Davis playing tortured and sad characters? She does a great job but I want more for her.
I’ve barely had time to mention the costumes, the music, the hair and makeup. Not that I hold much store by award shows but The Woman King had better be winning all the things next year. There are several amazing costumes and uniforms on display. And they’re pretty practical for the warriors! The hair and makeup are subtle and that’s why it’s so effective.
As much as I loved Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard, I had felt like some of the pacing was off on that film. The pacing in The Woman King is perfect. A great mix of character moments with tense scenes. Humour is brought in just when it’s needed and never feels like it’s intruding. And the action scenes are exhilarating to watch.
I hope The Woman King ushers in a new age of action films—ones that focus on different groups of action stars. It’s high time because this film is polished, has great characters, a stunning cast, and is going to get a whole bunch of new people to the cinemas. A lot of people have waited their entire lives for a film like The Woman King to exist. Now we need so much more.
[Publisher’s note: As is to be expected with any Hollywood movie, The Woman King does take some revisionist liberties with the source material. That said, given how much of history has been whitewashed and erased, it is a powerful thing to see such a story being told on the big screen, and presents an excellent opportunity to learn more about what has been kept hidden for so long. – WB]
