The Woman King could best be described as a cross between Black Panther and Braveheart that’s superior to those two films.
Powerfully acted by Viola Davis and a terrific supporting cast, the film is also sensationally directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Both Davis and Prince-Bythewood know how to create convincing battle sequences, but this movie has so much more going for it. It’s a film about unity, conviction and the unrelenting spirit of winning freedom. It’s an epic story that gladly knocks us out. And it’s based on a true story.
Davis stars as Nansica, a general in the African kingdom known as Dahomey in the year 1823. She trains a series of women who are called the Agojie to defend their kingdom from opposing forces. Nansica is tough but fair as she trains the women.
John Boyega costars as King Ghezo, the leader of the kingdom who wants to send out his army to bring down a group of European settlers who are involved in slave trading. Hero Fiennes Tiffin is the leader of the settlers and Jordan Bolger is his second-in-command who starts having doubts about his role after meeting the women of the Agojie.
Of course, the movie does have the typical trappings that we would expect in a movie like this such as motivational dialogue among the women to depict them as strong and fierce but the dialogue also gives them a sense of self-worth and the delivery is equally as convincing.
Lines such as “I will be a hunter before I become the prey” or “To be a warrior, you must kill your tears” are delivered with such conviction that in the hands of a lesser director, actors, or script, they would’ve come off as cheesy and laughable. Here, on a dramatic level, they’re proven to be incredibly effective.
Davis is the driving force throughout the movie. She can be intense, powerful, intelligent, resourceful and cunning all at once and I can say the same about the rest of the cast and the movie as a whole. I will personally consider it an upset if she isn’t nominated for Best Actress. She creates a character that will go down as one of the most remarkable portrayals of female empowerment in years.
The battle scenes are fierce and exciting, but it’s not spectacle for the sake of making them spectacles. Rather, the movie goes deep and tries to show how these women will fight to maintain their way of life and the beliefs that they live by.
The look of this movie is also breathtaking. It’s a triumph of creating a vast world that not only looks and feels convincing from the bigger picture, but also in the smaller details. The kingdom in which these women live is designed with such clarity and authenticity.
This is not a one-dimensional action epic. It supplies both the intensity and ferocity that the story needs, but it is also thoughtful and potent.
The Woman King rises as one of the year’s best films.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing material, thematic content, brief language and partial nudity.)
