The Woman King - Braveheart but West African

 

The Woman King is a good watch - sober and mature, but also thrilling and uplifting. A nuanced historical action film with a simple tale of good versus evil

The premise is dark - the Dahomey kingdom of West Africa find their lands plagued by slavery. Portuguese traders are offering large sums for human cargo, and their rival tribes will either enslave them, or overpower them with the wealth slavery will bring. The Dahomey - with their troop of female warriors led by the great General Nanisca - must face their enemies, or die. 

Like other historical epics - Braveheart, Gladiator, The Last Samurai - The Woman King’s historical roots are sparse and sometimes almost offensively contradictory to the story presented. But unlike many films these days, The Woman King remembers the appeal of these settings - to be the dressing for a primal tale about good, evil, power, and love. And like the aforementioned films, the conclusions it draws about these things are moving and timeless. It’s not just about slavery, or money, or goodness, or battle. It’s about all of them, and the common humanity found everywhere in the world.  

And a what a world it is! While rooted in strong character and setting, The Woman King more than delivers on the action. With a cast that trained for months and a team behind some of the John Wick films, the battles are a sight to behold. Creative, impressive, and emotional. And in a surprise occurrence, the film’s PG-13 rating does nothing to dampen the intensity, instead keeping the mature subject matter from becoming too bleak. You'll wince, but you'll also cheer. 

It's hard to imagine a film like this being released from a Hollywood studio. But with an award-studded star like Viola Davis as the lead, capable of drawing any viewer into her orbit, the film succeeds. And indeed, this whole project can be regarded as a triumph for her, yet another sign that her career has still greater heights to achieve. And while Western audiences like myself may feel a little out of place at first in this West African tale, you don't have to be Scottish to relate to Braveheart. 

While it’s not likely to reach the memetic success of other historically inspired epics, The Woman King is a thoroughly worthwhile use of your time and likely to have you thinking about it long afterward.