Movie Review: The Woman King (by guest blogger Mutendei Writes)

The Woman King review, written by guest blogger Mutendei Writes

GO WATCH THE WOMAN KING!

Having done a second watch, The Woman King is definitely a masterpiece of cinematography, the remixes on history notwithstanding. The highpoints of the movie are the scale and splendour of the sets, alongside off course, the Agojie warriors. The Dahomey Kingdom we are presented with, clearly and courageously depicts how well organized pre-colonial Africa was, both culturally and commercially (the slave trade still a meaty bone of contention for the movie.) With all the good though, there are some considerable diminishing faux pas that must be addressed as much as the movie deserves celebration.

Let me start with tackling two prominent concerns that jumped off the screen.

1)      The Woman King should have been a series.

Given the money-politics of Hollywood that feature as a point of contention in several cast interviews about its creation, I can concede that just getting the movie made was a huge win. Why do I say a series? Because there was so much subtext and unexplored context that would have propelled this movie into being “The G.O.A.T Mould” for all African warrior films way beyond the high bar the film achieves.

So lets get into the subtext and context.

THE SLAVE TRADE.

Show more of Dahomey’s culpability and how it changed and grew in prosperity as a result, by visual depiction and character reflections. If Ghezo’s brother sold their mother, what other lengths did others in society do. Were unruly daughters like Nawi also sold off? Failed recruits of the Igojie too? We needed more of a for and against discourse and to see who was lining their pockets from it.

THE AGOJIE CULTURE.

“The first rule of training is to obey/listen to what Izogie says. I am Izogie.” We needed to see more of the culture behind the Agojie. How did they begin? How did they become a traditional institution?

The new recruits walk into female gladiator camp without any hazing? I mean, come on! We didn’t need to see them have happy walks in the village until they had bonded and achieved a high level of aptitude. Weren’t they supposed to be secluded anyway? Where is the mental jostling and feather ruffling of recruits by themselves and their predecessors,  trying to transform themselves into Agojie badassery glory. There was a great opportunity to bring this to life in the barely hinted at rivalry between Nawi and Ode, which would have been great to explore as the quintessential answer to the Krixus and Spartacus rivalry from the masterpiece gladiator series by Starz. We only see slight rivalry in one moment of wrestling and the final test race competition. We don’t see their particular growth through mistrust, hate and competition into friendship, although they do make that journey with other actors. We do however get enough glorious Blood and Sand in this movie from the Agojie, just not in the training. The reason for both omissions probably being (I hope),that they were left on the cutting room floor due to time constraints.

The missed detailed representation of the advanced training the Agojie undergo was much needed and hopefully will show up in a series if one ever gets made as opposed to a sequel. The recruits barely do anything outside of a few simulations before they get to stand side by side by the baddest of the baddies, trio of Nanisca, Amenza and Izogie. There are no preliminary missions for them to harden their teeth on, and show their warrior and battle skill progression and combat situational awareness like the wonderful training montage we saw in the first wonder woman where a young Diana is taken through the ringer by Amazons ahead of her in years and skill before Antiope humbles her hard.

2)      Why are they following Dude?

I respect John Boyega as an actor and he excellently portrays Ghezo as presented by the movie narrative (minus the accent accidents), but who is Dude though? What makes him worthy for the Agojie to follow him? What was the reason for the coup he is mentioned in relation to? Why and how did he win out? What transformational thing did he do, before jumping into the war that forms the base of the movie’s fighting conflicts? All I really saw at the beginning of the movie is Ghezo rolling seven wives deep. I counted seven, correct me if you counted a different number.

Giving credit where credit is due, John Boyega’s embodiment of the character deftly outwits the Portuguese slaver Santo Ferreira portrayed wonderfully by Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

With those points out of the way lets jump into more of the good stuff.

IZOGIE!!!!

“The first rule of training is to always obey/listen to Izogie. I am Izogie.”

If I see Lashana Lynch give me that “Izogie” look on the street, best believe I am crossing to the other side. In as much as this was Viola Davis’s tour de force (literally and figuratively in the movie) it was also another artistic coming out party for Lashana Lynch. I don’t know if her role fits into supporting actress territory but I would definitely give her a nod for it. Lashana Lynch’s Izogie is all parts “don’t speak about it, be about it” on screen as Izogie seeks to follow in Nanisca’s trailblazing and eventually become Migano.

Her performance substantiates my position on why their should have been a more defined hierarchy among the Agojie in terms of age sets and skill sets, and kill sets, yet in the battles, this necessity of order and differentiation was thrown out the window. Jumping from basic training into the Agojie special forces team just didn’t make sense to me. Alas, like other unexplored facets in the movie, time (and I hope not willful omission) was probably against this.

THE COSTUMES!!!

The academy award for costumes and design needs to go to the production team who excellently combined African traditional colours and functionality of the Agojie and Dahomey uniforms, save for the Oya blight that sticks in my mind.

I cannot hold the same reverence for the costume of Oba Ade, alongside the costumes of the Oya soldiers, despite Jimmy Odukoya’s strong performance as the Oya general. The Mummy Returns called and they want their Lock-Nah costume back.

Jokes aside, there are several instances where this film perhaps due to its own stride for greatness and great performances of the cast, seem to channel other great movies, which is not a slight but an observation of everything coming together perfectly. Should they get a pass because of the history gaffe? No, but we need to discuss the good with the bad of the movie, so we can set the bar for what not to do and what to do with such stories and hopefully have it dictate Hollywood’s and independent films direction on the same.

In this regard, the discourse and antagonism between Santo Ferriera and Malik, calls to mind the same level of guised hate and intolerance that was witnessed between Guy Pearce and Jim Cavizel in The Counte of Monte Cristo. It would have been wonderful to see the development of Santo’s villany in contrast to Malik’s earnest persona. Hence my appeal for a series instead of a sequel/prequel movie.

THE BATTLES

When I said there was Blood and Sand (insert your own happy, gleeful chuckle instead of mine if you have watched the movie), there was Blood and Sand!!! The way the Agojie give and trade punches while steam rolling their adversaries, was such a satisfying arc on its own, showing the capability of pre-colonial Africa without the white lens. If you thought Thanos’s “Great White Shark” like entrance at the beginning of Avenger’s endgame was bad, these ladies rising out of the grass at the film’s beginning to show you why they “are enough” just like Thanos, is (excuse my french) hot shit!!! The mayhem that ensues sets a solid tone for the entire movie and affirms the fact that the Agojie are not to be messed with, despite Jimmy Odukoya’s powerful presence as the opposing force, which he maintains wonderfully till the end.

Seeing the terrible trio of Nanisca, Amenza and Izogie work in tandem to carry the day repeatedly,  was a key motivator in watching the movie twice.

The end I feel was a bit mired by Ghezo mansplaining away. I have never seen mansplaining on screen until dude started yapping, but given the context of that moment it can be rationalized. With this as a segue, I do have to circle back again to what I felt was missing and why this needed to be a series.

THE SECOND ACT TWIST

This was wonderfully  teased and executed, but again like other mentions, opened the door to the inclusion of much more background. Let me say it again. Do a series next and not a sequel/prequel.

AFRICAN VERNACULAR

The entire movie should have been in African Vernacular with subtitles. I get that it had to premiere to an American audience but like I said earlier, making this movie the go to “G.O.A.T mould” for African sword and sandal movies would have been more attainable with this linguistic construction. The actors may have put a lot into it, but linguistic representation with actors learning the languages should have been part of that commitment, a sure fore way to counter the horrible accents of many. The change was done for the Portuguese characters and should have been done for the African dialogue. It would have added to the movie’s colourful cultural base and further shown the diversity and knowledge sets of Africa before colonialism.

THE POLITICAL RIVALRY BETWEEN NANISCA & SHANTE

Where did it originate from? How has it festered and what have been the wins and losses between them in their battle for favour? The background of the stakes could have been developed a bit better, like the antagonism and rivalry between Lucretia and Illiythia from Spartacus. For demonstrative purposes, what if Shante was a younger recruit that got banished and fell out, and after getting expelled, found her way into the kings favour on count of her beauty and wiles, despite having failed at women warrior hood, and as the King’s favorite wife, become a staunch political enemy of Nanisca and  the Agojie? What if she tried to manipulate naive Nawi against Nanisca and her fellow Agojie, like Lucretia used Navia and Navia’s predecessors. The obvious answer again would be time constraints furthering the need for a series.

WHY DID THEY LEAVE THEIR DEAD BEHIND?

This baffled me given that the Agojie were presented as such a strong sisterhood and protective of each other. This needed to be explained or explored further.

NAWI’S MISSING HARD LIFE AND MUSCLES.

I focus on this, not as a knock against the amazing acting performance and effort of Thuso Mbedu in bringing Nawi to life, yet having gone through a tough regiment of training to become a military warrior, her physique did not seem to change (to me) in contrast to her Agojie sisters, both her immediate peers, and those ahead of her. The final form of Nawi that goes into war falls, behind in comparative physicality to the other Agojie, newbies and seasoned veterans alike. We also don’t see the hard life that breaks her down several times, setting off water works. “I’ve had a hard life!” Boo, hoo! Show us, don’t tell us! That hard life is not reflected at all in her appearance or mental persona.

WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE WOMAN KING AND WHAT DOES IT ENTAIL?

How would this change life for Nanisca and the rest of the Agojie? Does the Woman King have any official duties? What made it a coveted position for Shante?

THE CONTROVERSY (WHITEWASHING) OF THE HISTORY

I am a history buff and this is a sore point for me, and this movie can be held to be a case of the white producers behind the film using Black/African girl magic as a gravy train, but the game has to be played in order to tip the scales in favour of African/Black creators and narratives. If you want to say build our own table, okay but that’s not going to produce tangible results in the immediate. This movie can be a springboard to that if we let those involved (actors and producers) know by harsh dissections and ridicule of the film. Boycotting it could be one way, but that shuts the door on getting it right and I would not do that myself. As a creative, I always say if you are going to complain about the wrong, don’t stop there. Create the right. If you are wondering why I don’t attack the history narrative presented, the article by Bounding Into Comics  does it profoundly, negating the need for me to harp on it myself. https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/09/16/the-woman-king-review-a-fantasy-that-runs-from-the-truth/amp/

With the good said, and the downsides mentioned, go watch THE WOMAN KING