The Woman King
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Throughout the awards season, we’ll get around to some much-discussed films that we didn’t previously review.
Admittedly, I took my time getting around to The Woman King. There’s something about the very Braveheart aura I felt from the promotional material didn’t seem like it would be my thing (The Woman King came out during a time when I had to be a little picky with what I was watching because of my reduced bandwidth), and I did hear the complaints about the levels of historical inaccuracy at play here (again, Braveheart). Well, I’m going to ignore the context because I am not a master historian and cannot comfortably go into what fabrications take place in The Woman King and to what extent, so all I will say is take the history here with a grain of salt. Additionally, I’ll just judge the film as just that (a film) and say that The Woman King is actually quite something in this regard. It is well produced, strongly acted, and the end result is quite a thrill to behold. If you’re something of a historian, you may be noticing the sole flaws on quite a large scale. If not, try not to let this side of the film get in the way as it is ambitiously sound.
Viola Davis plays General Nanisca (a fictional leader of the all-female Agoje warriors). She leads her army in the Kingdom of Dahomey and takes in any women that have been kidnapped by slavers. They are from the Oyo Empire, which incites the Dahomey monarch, King Ghezo to declare war; Nanisca is to train her team into all-out fighters to defend the Kingdom of Dahomey. Most of The Woman King involves ruthless training (Nanisca doesn’t fuck around when building her army, and she goes into her brutal past as to why she refuses to ever let up or take breaks), and the build-up to the inevitable (all-out battles) is a steady, enriching one. You get to know the key fighters that Nanisca coaches quite well, and it is this bond that you feel that makes The Woman King as commanding as it gets: you aren’t sure what the outcomes of these souls will be once you trek into the unknown.
Viola Davis is as incandescent as always in The Woman King.
While there are many components that make The Woman King a fully fledged picture, one cannot deny that the focal point is — and was forever going to be — one Viola Davis, who is as dazzling as ever as General Nanisca. She proves time and time again why she is one of the strongest actors of our time, and The Woman King may be one of her best examples in years. Here, Davis is permanently dominant, as she exudes so many levels of boldness on top of her hidden agony that keeps her going. While the thoroughly-designed sets and costumes would transport you to Western Africa no problem, and the action choreography would keep you on the edge of your seat, the main reason to check out The Woman King is unquestionably Davis, who uses the stage like a trained, Shakespearean thespian to her best advantages. However (unlike many other star-driven vehicles during the awards season), she is not the only reason to watch The Woman King: a slow-burning epic that will keep you gripped to the screen whenever you let go of its glowing inaccuracies.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.