INTRODUCTION
The Woman King 2022 is an American epic historical action drama film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and Dana Stevens, based on a story she wrote with Maria Bello.
The film stars Viola Davis as a general who trains warriors to fight for their kingdom. It also stars Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and John Boyega.
The Woman King, set in the 1820s, is about the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries.
Distributed Worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing, The Woman King runs for 2 hours and I5 minutes, and English is the primary language used.
THE WOMAN KING OFFICIAL TRAILER
SYNOPSIS
The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness, unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by actual events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar®-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life.
Some things are worth fighting for…
THE WOMAN KING FILM REVIEW
The Woman King film is beautiful. It’s entertaining, suspenseful, captivating, and real. Watching this film, I felt present in every bit of it. At no point in this film did I stop to look at the time becuase the movie the right story to tell and told that story impressively.
Impressive work by the directors and the performers.
I know you can’t wait to hear my thoughts on the film so without further ado, let’s get into the details of the review. Shall we?
Character/Acting: I think this is the movie with the best black female protagonist I’ve seen. I guess everyone knows who this protagonist is. The famous Lawyer from the evergreen series How To Get Away With Murder – Viola Davis.
Viola stars as General Nanisca, an African female warrior and the sisterhood’s leader. Her role in this film is very crucial to its success. Roles of characters in historical films are challenging to pull off, but Viola again showed how good of an actress she is.
She displayed different emotions when she was in the sisterhood and alone with her confidant – Amenza. It makes her role more relatable.
Her facial expression and her body language were spot on. She also displayed the right persona. Her role as a general requires that she always keep a straight face especially when in public, always keep a broad shoulder, speak with confidence, show no fear, and so much more, and she did this all very well.
Despite her fantastic performance, his accent needed to be African. It was the Hollywood representation of the African accent so there were several inconsistencies with it.
Moving on to another actress Thuso Mbedu. Thuso played the role of Nawi, a 19-year-old lady who joined the Agogie because she refused to get married to a man who beats her up. Thuso Mbedu’s delivery is fantastic.
Her role in this film is impressive too. I even wonder how she kept a straight face when required because all pictures I’ve seen of her on the internet have her smiling. I can bet keeping a straight face was a bit difficult for her.
I love her accent; it sounds African, South African, to be precise, though not all part of it. They were some inconsistencies in her pronunciation, but her overall performance makes up for this.
Lastly, Lashana Lynch plays the role of Izogie. She is phenomenal as a supporting character. She played the most relatable role in this film as she showed bravery yet compassion to Nawi, the newbie, taking her under her arms and showing her the way around things.
Cinematography: The cinematography at moments is breath-taking, and the camera works too. Character development and story building of the Agogie great. The visual effects are also of standout quality.
The action scenes were one of the film’s best moments; they looked real. So real one might even mistake this for a recorded live movie. Although they were too much slicing, no visible blood was spilt.
I like how the camera crew made Nawi look smaller using camera technicality.
The Setting was great. The shots of the coast and plateaus of the kingdom were beautiful.
The makeup artists did a great job, as the attires and looks of the characters made their roles more understandable.
Music and Scores: The musical score is sublime, and the songs and chants got my attention. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of what sounds like African Tribal music to the works, the drums, shakers, and a few horns helping to give the Lion King vibe.
The sound works very well in cultural settings and sometimes extends to other moments, which makes the film more enjoyable. The orchestral work was excellent too.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2015, Bello went to the West African nation of Benin to learn the history of the Agojie. Convinced she had found a story worth telling, she returned to Los Angeles and recruited Schulman, then head of the organization Women in Film, to help her make the film.
In September, Bello used a moment when she presented actress Viola Davis with an award at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles to pitch her idea for the movie in front of the crowd, who cheered at the notion of seeing Davis in the lead role. You can read more on this here.
I liked this film; it had twists (unexpected twists), making it more exciting and leaving one rooting for the agojies because we know the background of their story. The film is fun, especially the drama, action and competition part of the film. Interesting dialogues that keep one glued to the screen
The film’s end was entirely predictable, but we’ll neglect that because of how good the film is.
I wish great movies like this about African history and culture would be done to make the world aware.
I would recommend The Woman King to any action and history lover above 14.
You can watch The Woman King on Prime Video.
Similar genre – Emancipation(2022)
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