The Woman King (2022)

Just watch the trailer and you will see the real-life origins of the Dora Milage from the MCU. Viola Davis looks really to be on top of her game and I love these kinds of historical dramas and thank to Yuri, my screener connection, I have it to watch tonight.

The Woman King is an upcoming American historical epic film about the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. The film stars Viola Davis as a general who trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies.

At a time in history when the slave trade saw one kingdom after another selling their war captives into bondage for the benefits of European traders, one kingdom decided to turn away from that path and their all-female fighting force had a great deal to do with that decision.

Viola Dai plays the General of the Ajojie who welcomes a young girl into her ranks and trains her to fight with a group the Europeans called the 'African Amazons'. At this time in history there were no such female fighting forces that could actively challenge the Europeans anywhere else in the world.

The film gives us a fascinating look into the culture that birthed such a force and the respect for women that was the first step in maintaining such a martial tradition. Four out of every ten women made the cut and trained relentlessly to be the equal of any man in battle.

I totally got into this personal tale and the larger world building that was going on here. I learned a little about Africa in the late 1700s when the global slave trade was in full force. For a short time, the Kingdom of Dahomey were able to break free of the lucrative but dehumanizing system. I also enjoyed the large female cast who gave a fresh perspective to the warrior culture that exists in every society.

With a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems like everyone agrees that the Woman King is worth your time and so do I. This film is definitely in my top five for this year.