Flying through the air, chests extended, arms and legs back propelling

the body forward as the machete styled short sward arcs through the
air, slicing into the muscle-ripped chest of the victim standing before
them, the Agojie warriors in The Woman King was phenomenal. The
fight choreography in The Woman King is intended to blow the
audience away, and it does not disappoint. The best parts of the film
are the fight scenes. I’ve always loved stage combat, the dance of
violence is all make-believe, and sword fighting is so much fun. It was
wonderful to see women in their power kicking ass.

The Agojie were the all-female military who served at the pleasure of
the King of the Dahomey, a nation in what now is called Benin. The
film takes place in the 1820s. The British made slave trading illegal in
1807 and abolished slavery in 1833 because England no longer needed
money from slavery to make money for the country. The Dahomey
were slave merchants who (like many other African nations back then)
worked with Europeans to kidnap and traffic other African nations into
the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Their income and access to wealth and
power depended on chattel slavery. The Dahomey’s patriarchal system
contributed to the lucrative economic system for as long as possible to
avoid being colonized. Once American slavery was abolished after the
American Civil War, and the money from chattel slavery dried up,
Europeans looked to the African continent for a new “unlimited”
income source.
General Nanisca with her new recruits

The training session segments shown in The Woman King were

fascinating. The film focuses on a Nawi (Thuso Mbedu, The
Underground Railroad), a 19-year-old woman who becomes a
member of the Agojie. We follow her 19th-century boot camp training
and see her progress from novice to warrior within the span of an hour.
I was fascinated by her progression with a rope dart-style weapon. The
sharp tip of the spear, a “ dart”, was tied to a rope which the warrior
would twirl aim and throw at their victim like a cobra with a deadly
long-distance bite. This fucking thing was AWESOME!! Daniel
Hernandez was the fight coordinator for the film. Hernandez is one of
the most talented fight coordinators/stunt men in film today. In
addition to The Woman King he was fight coordinator for The Gray
Man, Avengers, Endgame, Venom and has done stunts on John Wick,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and so many action films you should
just go to his IMDB page to see his long list of credits. All of that
experience shines through the fights in The Woman King. In an
interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hernandez shares that (without
naming any names) the women in this film were tougher than the men,
he’s worked with on action films. He said they didn’t complain when
they accidentally got hurt and worked through minor injuries. Of
course, this aspect of the work ethic of Dark skinned Black women fits
the strong Black Woman trope. The strong Black Woman powers
through the pain and, due to her placement in the caste system, has
been programmed to give everyone 200 percent effort when only 100
percent is required.
The Magnificent Sheila Atim as Warrior/Healer Amenza

My favorite character in The Woman King was Amenza (Sheila

Atim, The Underground Railroad, Bruised). The warrior healer is the
character I most related to. She knows the spiritual practices, rituals,
and herbs to nourish your spirit and will kick everybody’s ass when
necessary. My favorite weapon in stage combat is the quarterstaff,
which is Amenza’s choice weapon. Amenza is tall and lean, and when
she twirls that shit around with the speed of a helicopter propeller, the
quarterstaff extends her reach and makes her a deadly force to be
reckoned with. The quarterstaff is also used by the Dora Milaje
in Black Panther expertly and I absolutely love love love LOVE this
weapon. I find myself at the gym twirling around a PVC pipe used for
stretching out the rotator cuff and shoulders, pretending to fight… like
Xena the Warrior princess. Now I’ve got some Black women warrior
women to inspire my imaginary play. Witnessing Amenza’s role in the
film was a high point for me.

Lashana Lynch as Izogie displays her power

The Woman King screenplay was written by Dana Stevens (City of

Angels), and the story is by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello (actor,ER)
and it reminded me of films from the ’90s with broad themes and the
expected level of Black trauma porn thrown into the narrative to create
a broad reason to justify the obvious “surprises” that happen in the
film. The writers address the fact that the Dahomey were slave
merchants with excessive dialogue. The script works so hard to make
the audience believe that General Nanisca (Viola Davis), a seasoned
warrior for years, wants to fight to farm Palm oil rather than be slave
merchants. Viola Davis’ earnest commitment to her character almost
sold me. She really acts the shit out of this role and you see every effort
of every moment and all this character’s past trauma played out in her
tired eyes and fit but battle-exhausted middle-aged body. Just
watching her act was exhausting. The Academy loves to see actors act
the shit out of acting like Viola Davis’ acting process requires.

Viola Davis as General Nanisca is ready for a best female actor Oscar Nomination

But as this lovely actor acts her heart out, the scriptwriters did not do
the basic good storytelling work to help me willingly disbelieve. As I
watched, I kept thinking about the missing chunks of context not
woven into the narrative that could have made me feel something more
for these compelling actors. Of course, there’s a light skinned, “good
haired” biracial Black man who has a daliance with one of the Agojie
warriors. Of course a white female writer would have to put a “tragic
male mulatto” trope into their script. While watching this film, I felt
happy for the actors who were acting the shit out of these roles. I
marveled at the scene work, the connection, the accents, the fight
choreography, the hairstyles, and costumes. Seeing Dark skinned Black
beauty and physical fitness in all its glorious forms was wonderful. I
wonder if, the credited white female writers assumed audiences are so
accustomed to seeing Dark skinned Black women and Dark skinned
Black men at war that audiences would just cheer at the great stage
combat without noticing the subtle impact of seeing Black women and
men slaughtering one another. Perhaps even though the white female
writers and producing team of The Woman King have spent half a
decade working on this project, they didn’t know the dynamic that
involves colorism and conflict between dark skinned Black men and
women that was, ironically, created by white folks to keep Black folks
colonized, distracted and fighting each other for scraps.
Lashana Lynch’s Izogie in Battle

As I watched The Woman King I couldn’t help but notice that the
major events of violence and trauma were Black male against Black
female but the ultimate oppressors with all of the power were White
men. When we do see Black women and Men uprising together against
White men the main Black characters do not get to directly execute
their revenge directly against a specific white male advisory. The main
Black characters get to kill unknown white male characters in battle.
What are the white female writers trying to say? Did they even notice
the limitations of their perspective?
White writers, do a fantastic job at creating white male anti-heroes in
action films. People love Deadpool, Wolverine, and on TV one of my
own personal favorite white guy anti-heroes is Walter White
from Breaking Bad. And we have some great white female anti-heroes
like The Bride from Kill Bill, Thelma and Louise, Veronica from the
film Heathers and Harley Quinn. Through great storytelling, the
audience can see all of these flawed characters in their beautiful
complex humanity, not as one-dimensional heroes who do the right
thing with honor at all times. We see people with the best intentions
doing what they think is right thing to do alongside the myriad of
things flawed imperfect human beings do. Why couldn’t the writers
and script editors involved in The Woman King give the characters
they created the same kind of nuanced humanity?
The Agojie female Warriors of the Dahomey

The Woman King will uplift stereotypes of Black women as

perfectionists who willingly work beyond normal expectations, just as
the white dominant wellness culture uplifts rest, relaxation, longevity,
self-care, and time nourishing family. Just as white folks are
encouraged to rest, Black folks are encouraged to be tough, strong, and
work. In so many ads and TV shows, we see white women and Black
men and Black women and white men in loving interracial
relationships, just as we see TV and Film Black horror, Black drug
dealer genres where we witness Black men and women violently
tearing one another apart. I wonder where all of these “new” tropes
come from?

The filmmakers intended The Woman King to be the Black female

Bravehart and they did their job. I enjoyed the fights and it’s a solid
action film worth seeing if you want to go to the movies with a big ass
tub of popcorn and a way to big soda. At the end of the day The
Woman King had some great fights, great scenes that showcased
supurb acting work with a predictable script that ran a little long for
me and left me with no emotional attachment to the story. I don’t think
this film should be boycotted or is unwatchable, it’s a solid action film.
I do hope all of the fantastic Dark skinned Black female actors in this
film book tons of work and make all of the money going forward in
their careers after being centered in this world.