'The woman king': when African women created a military regiment to defend themselves in the 19th century

warriors

formed the world's only all-female military regiment throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

An elite military unit made up of prisoners from enemy towns;

by Dahomians enlisted by force, as a kind of compulsory military service;

by women disowned by their families, and by criminals.

Initially created due to the lack of men due to the continuous battles with neighboring territories, the garrison became essential during the two wars against France, between 1890 and 1894. An exciting material for these times of necessary feminism and continuous demand for figures hidden by history, which is dealt with in the American film

centered on the group during the rule of King Ghezo, at a time when Brazilian slave traders allied with the monarch to dominate the local economy.

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Viola Davis: "I aspire to positions like those of Glenn Close or Meryl Streep"

At a time when adult adventure movies seem (almost) banished from any cinematography, separated by the sometimes refreshing and other times soporific productions based not on the history of humanity, but on simple amusement park amusements

the appearance of a title such as

It can only be explained using words like feminism, sorority and vindication.

In fact, the film is produced and promoted by Maria Bello, a regular actress as well as a producer;

starring almost entirely women, in a cast led by Viola Davis, an activist for the rights of African-American women, of enormous reputation in Hollywood, who plays a general of the

and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, specializing in female stories that break the stereotype, such as

(2008) and

(2020).

The result is a film that stands out more for what it tells than for how it tells it, with numerous action and combat sequences filmed by Prince-Bythewood with as much correctness as lack of personality, and a central axis of the story perhaps too close to the soap opera familiar, but which becomes strong around the relationship between the female characters, and due to the total ignorance of the vast majority of viewers.

Both of the historical period in which it is set and of the various political, social, human and even religious circumstances of a pagan nature that it frames, fascinating at all times.

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The women of the regiment could not marry, have sex or have children, and the young co-star of the story, recruited by the group after refusing an arranged marriage with an old abuser and being taken from her family after her refusal, is a rebel within a rebel group like the

facts that confirm the spirit of historical demand of

Dahomey, present-day Benin, a former African state with a monarchical regime and center of the slave trade during the 18th century, is strange territory for anyone.

And, in this sense, the film enters fully into the coordinates of the classic adventure, of exotic times and places, although here the history of humanity is not treated just as a mere show and contains something that has rarely been seen in the gender: women do not go through there nor are they mere companions of the conquests, ambitions and moral disturbances of men.

And the concept of warrior women, even for once, is not configured as a metaphorical statement but absolutely literal.

The sisterhood of the black woman: the one from before, unknown to many;

and that of now, a symptom of a new social panorama.

the king woman

Director:

Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Cast:

Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega.

Genre:

adventures.

USA, 2022.

Duration:

135 minutes.

Premiere: November 25.

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