In The Woman King, Nanisca experiences firsthand the horrors of slavery, and works to convince King Ghezo to stop participating in the slave trade-or at least to end the tributary status of the Dahomey to the Oyo Empire. Read more: The 52 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2022 The role slavery played in the Dahomey Kingdomīut the Agojie-and the Dahomey-are not without complexity. “Roughly anywhere from one-third to 40% of the whole army made of women.” (At its peak, the Agojie included as many as 6,000 members.) “The idea was there, the social conditions were in place, but then he led the way-King Ghezo-to raise this to the highest level in terms of organization, number of people involved,” Wantchekon says. In one scene, Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), a new recruit, goes to the river to find the perfect rock with which to sharpen her sword.Īnd third, King Ghezo catalyzed the expansion of military might. The weapons that the Agojie and their male counterparts used, for instance, were often produced locally-certainly not all imported from Europe. “It’s not very surprising that something that extraordinary, like these female warriors, arose from these institutions.”Īs a historical advisor, Wantchekon made sure that Dahomey was portrayed as a developed, sovereign state-rather than a stereotypical primitive tribe. “I believe in the movie that Dahomey is presented as a highly, highly sophisticated state in a modern sense: with a standing army, with bureaucracy, with officials in charge of logistics,” Wantchekon says.
Wantchekon, the historical advisor, is from Benin, and was born a mile away from the former palace of King Glele, the son of King Ghezo, the ruling monarch in The Woman King (played by John Boyega.) In the movie, King Ghezo and General Nanisca have a unique rapport: she is, essentially, his right-hand woman, and advises him closely on military tactics. The conditions that led to the rise of the Agojie It also addresses the role that Dahomey played in the slave trade-although it glosses over the fact that the king at the time only temporarily paused the kingdom’s participation in 1852. But The Woman King marks the first time that a major motion picture in the U.S. Prince-Bythewood has credited Black Panther with helping to pave the way for this film-especially in an industry in which the stories of people of color have not always been prioritized by studios.
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