For director Gina Prince-Bythewood, making the historical epic The Woman King was dream come true. Despite dealing with a seven-year-long development process, Prince-Bythewood was determined to prove that Hollywood stories centering on powerful Black women deserve to be seen. Based on a real all-female garrison of West African warriors known as the Agojie from the kingdom of Dahomey. The film follows its leader Nanisca (Viola Davis) and her fierce tribe of warriors as they defend the kingdom of Dahomey from a violent neighboring empire and the invading Portuguese capitalizing on the transatlantic slave trade. Prince-Bythewood gives insight into creating an ensemble cast of warriors, rich world-building, and the importance of seeing oneself on screen.
On the subject, Prince-Bythewood told Deadline, “I would not say a dearth, but there are no films that tell us about our history beyond enslavement in this country. Everything we learn starts there. And there’s so much more history that we need to be in touch with that we’re not. And it’s just such a mystery to so many, and we need that.”
Prince-Bythewood does have a point. However, searching for “Films about African history” would result in scrolling for quite a while until they would see a title that isn’t about slavery or Jim crow era America. Meanwhile, films about medieval and ancient Europe have hundreds of titles and multiple won awards.
Speaking of Awards, Bythewood said, “as for the conversation, it’s exciting because it means that people respect the film, that they’re moved by the film. You know, we put all this work into it, not for that. ”
With critical acclaim and box office success, the film is favored to receive an Oscar, making it a landmark in the academy.
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