‘The Woman King‘ is an upcoming movie based on the story of the fierce Agojie (also known as the Amazons), an all-female unit of warriors who fight against the Western-influenced, richer Oyo empire, and defend the African Kingdom of Dahomey. It will follow the journey of General Nanisca played by the Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, who is set to train and prepare the next set of generations to defend the Agojie and their way of life.
As Viola Davis said, “I like to say that I was the OG warrior,” the film has ignited much expectations and anticipations to see the actress in quite a new character. She had even more of a responsibility on her since the film is tracing the real-life story of a much stereotyped and unknown community. Yes, it is based on a true story, but what is so important about it? You’re in for an insightful read.
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The Amazons Community Is Making It To A Theatrical Adaptation
The movie makers weren’t lying when the trailer of ‘The Woman King‘ stated, “based on powerful true events,” and teased “the most exceptional female warriors to ever live.” What do we know of the Amazons? Mainly that they resided in some part of the African continent? Well, even our lead character actress, Viola Davis, didn’t know much about it. She herself confessed to Vanity Fair, “The only thing I knew [before working on the film], literally, was that there were women somewhere in Africa that were called Amazons.”
It was in 1823 that the kingdom of Dahomey was threatened by the western colonizers. They were forced to pay tribute to the white colonizers in the form of virgins, guns and captives to be sold into slavery. However, this small society fought back. It was a time when manpower was scarce, owing to the horrific European slave trade. Some accounts of history mention that before the Agojie came to power, it was queen Hangbe who ruled, but her name has been erased from many historical documents related to the kingdom of Dahomey.
The movie, which will focus on women warriors, has one of the characters named Thuso Mbedu as Nawi, who joins Davis’ character, general Nanisca and her unit. Historical accounts of Dahomey have several reports on women warriors, like Nanisca, who was described by a French Naval officer as “a teenage soldier who performed her first execution with a sword, then squeezed the blood off her weapon and swallowed it.” Three months later, she is killed in the battle. According to Smithsonian, a Beninese historian met “an extremely old woman” by the name of Nawi in 1978. She claimed to have fought against the French in 1892. “Probably she was the last of the Dahomey warriors,” per Smithsonian.
The movie may not follow the word-to-word historical story of the Dahomey warriors, but that also comes because of a lack of a solid historical account. There is not much to be found of the Kingdom of Dahomey, and most of these accounts have been from the perspective of the white male colonizers.
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How Was The Idea Of ‘The Woman King’ Conceived?
The idea of the movie first popped in Maria Bello’s head during a 2016 trip to Benin where she learned about the warriors for the first time. Schulman recalled, “She (Bellow) said, ‘Can you imagine if one day we actually made a movie about this amazing group of female soldiers who caused such an act of resistance that slavery paused for a time?’”
The screenplay writer and director, Gina Prince Bythewood, also revealed that another of the inspirations behind this project was the amount of misinformation revolving around the Amazons. “The biggest eye-opener was how much misinformation there is about these women and this culture given that so much of their history was written from the colonizer’s point of view. So it was really about separating the texts that were from that point of view, which were so disparaging and disrespectful, from the truth,” said Bythewood. The success of the ‘Black Panther,’ has also played an important role in making sure that the African community has taken agency over their stories and their stupendous representation.
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