[Movie] The Woman King

While some battles are fought with weapons, others are fought with memories, pain and everything a person has spent years trying to bury and that is what makes The Woman King much more than a movie about female warriors.

The 2022 historical action movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, follows Nanisca (Viola Davis), the General of the Agojie, an all-female warrior unit protecting the Kingdom of Dahomey. After losing many of her women in battle, Nanisca begins training a new generation of recruits, including the stubborn and fearless Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) and Nawi's story immediately gave the movie another emotional layer.

After Nawi refused to marry a man who would abuse her, her father sends her to the king and instead, she ends up joining the Agojie, where she met Izogie (Lashana Lynch), a tough but surprisingly warm warrior who becomes more than just her trainer. Izogie became the kind of sister and mentor Nawi desperately needed but couldn't have biologicaly.

The training was intense as the women were taught to fight, endure pain and suppress their emotions. But Nawi constantly challenge the idea and orientation that being strong means having no feelings.

Nanisca on her own part was captured and sexually assaulted by Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya) years earlier before she became a general. She became pregnant and secretly gave birth to a daughter whom she was forced to give away because Agojie warriors were not permitted to have children. That daughter turns out to be Nawi and then Nanisca's own buried pain began to surface.

That revelation completely changed the relationship between them. Nanisca wasn't simply training another recruit anymore. She is unknowingly standing in front of the child she once lost but I love how the movie didn't allow that reunion happen easily.

Nawi and Izogie got captured by the Oyo forces and their allies and I can say that the part where Izogie's arm bone was fixed by Nawi gave me goosebumps, lol.
Nanisca refuses to abandon them, even after King Ghezo orders her not to launch a rescue mission.

This is really where the movie broke me apart. Izogie's death is one of the most painful moments in the film. After everything she had done for Nawi, watching her die while Nawi cries for her is heartbreaking. It reminds you that these women aren't simply warriors fighting battles. They are friends, sisters and family—and every battle comes with the possibility of losing someone they love.

The final confrontation between Nanisca and Oba Ade is not just another fight. It is Nanisca confronting the man connected to one of the darkest chapters of her life.

Will Nanisca overcome the battle she was ordered not to embark on in the palace of their oppressors? Will she ever be able to reunite with her once lost child?

The cast is excellent. Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim carried the emotional heart of the film, while John Boyega who played King Ghezo, Jordan Bolger who played Malik, Hero Fiennes Tiffin who played Santo Ferreira and Jimmy Odukoya played Oba Ade delivered so well.

One important thing to also know is that The Woman King is inspired by real Dahomey history but heavily fictionalised, particularly its portrayal of the kingdom's relationship with slavery. So I wouldn't watch it as a historical documentary but as a movie, it is emotional, powerful, visually beautiful and surprisingly tender beneath all the violence.

Sometimes, strength isn't about forgetting what broke you. It's about finally finding something worth living for after.

I'll be dropping my 🖊️ here on the movie review

Thanks for reading through 🤗

All images are for the movie.

Rating: 98/100

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Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.