Debanky

Amazing story! Amazing cast. Amazing acts!! Historical, fresh and still nudging! Every South African must see this! Not a freedom day yet in South Africa. Not yet Uhuru until the price of freedom is known! What’s the price of freedom?

Raw, slow, jerky and rewardingly excellent!

This is a compelling whodunnit. I would drop off watching a murder mystery stories.....but I watched this to the end. The intricate plot & expansive infusion of suspense sustain the interest to unveil the villain which eventually turns out to those seething deepfakes sitting in that sprawling castle of horror. Michelle tamed that lead character. Good outing .......

Dahomey, a rich and sprawling kingdom in the Savannah. NO! The Oyo warriors dotted as Tuaregs or Arabian Jihadists. NO!. I knew from the opening scenes that something is wrong conceptually. Hollywood came to Africa to depict one of the most despicable portions of the African history in a context only sufficient for the pecuniary motive. "The Woman King" is completely weak on thematic approach. It attempted to present a terminative depiction of heroic achievements rather than failures of a tribe that thrived in the crimson market of human indignity & brutal slavery. The story did not incite that atavistic feeling commensurate to the primitive & cannibalistic disposition of King Ghezo and his court of zombies. The Kingdom of Dahomey thrived in the 18th & 19th centuries trading in human cargoes with Europeans in connivance with other hinterland tribes particularly, the almighty Oyo Empire. "The Woman King" did not tell this story. The movie could have been projected as a fictional piece just like the Superhero series, "Wakanda". Painstakingly, watching to the close of the story, I noted a conniption of unrelated imagery, unseemly setting, distant dances, deafening ululation which all added to the disputed contradictions of a muted past which only existed in the imagination of the creators. If at all, we concede to the lure of feminist reawakening sensibilities of the African woman, I would think there are several parchments & testimonials revering the sterling roles of the African Amazons in the pre -colonial era that could spur critical interests all around the world - Queen Amina of Zaazau, now Zaria in the modern day Nigeria; Nandi (Nandi kaBhebhe eLangeni) Nandi (1760-1827), the mother of the famed Shaka Zulu and Mbande Nzinga (1583 – 1663) the sister and chief of Staff to the Ngola King (now Angola). The Agojies of Dahomey were villians; a female ground force which played ignoble roles during the era capturing slaves and beheading their victims. The movie did not project this. The parsimonious rendition of historical elements especially the place of the woman in the African cosmogony, in my view, fictionizes the entire project and should be resighted & cited as such. If you are looking for a simple Hollywood entertainment, set in a fictional African pre-colonial period, then this movie is for you.