Is ‘The Woman King’ a True Story?

The trailer for The Woman King advertises that it’s “Based on Powerful True Events.” The occasions depicted within the movie contain a group referred to as the Agojie, a ferocious platoon of feminine warriors who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey. In the movie, it’s 1823 and the Dahomey are below assault from a neighboring kingdom, the Oyo Empire. A courageous Agojie basic named Nanisca (Viola Davis) who serves King Ghezo (John Boyega) works to guard her folks — and to persuade Ghezo that their nation’s participation within the slave commerce is a “poison” that should cease. (When each the Oyo and the Dahomey seize enemy combatants in battle, they promote these prisoners into slavery.)

That’s The Woman King’s story. But in contrast to the trailer, the movie itself doesn’t really embrace any kind of title card claiming it’s a work of historic fiction — and it’s additionally price noting that saying one thing relies on “true events” is just not fairly the identical as saying one thing relies on a “true story.” Technically talking, The Amityville Horror relies on true occasions. The story that the movie model tells, although, is clearly a work of fiction.

So is The Woman King a true story? Yes and no; the rigorously worded line within the trailer about “powerful true events” was there for a cause. Lots of The Woman King is completely based mostly within the historic file. Some components, although, aren’t.

All of the essential outlines of the premise and setting are correct. There actually was a kingdom known as Dahomey, dominated by a King Ghezo, who reigned there from 1818 to 1859. The nation did make use of an all-female regiment of its military referred to as the Agojie, who, as depicted within the movie, adhered to a monk-like existence. The Agojie lived within the King’s palace in their very own separate enclave away from all different males. They by no means married, they by no means had intercourse, they usually by no means had kids. (Or at the least they weren’t imagined to.) Just as within the movie, the Dahomey stopped paying tribute to the Oyo after which defeated them in a battle that shifted the steadiness of energy within the area.

But as detailed by Smithsonian Magazine, components of the movie are not true to the historic file. The movie’s two feminine leads, Nanisca and Nawi, are each fictional creations — though there have been members of the Agojie with these names at numerous factors in historical past. According to Smithsonian, the real-life Nanisca was noticed by a French naval officer in 1889, a long time after the occasions chronicled in The Woman King.

Rather than a basic, the true Nanisca was a younger lady “who had not yet killed anyone,” who was put by way of a trial very like those depicted within the movie. (Interestingly, the true Nanisca sounds extra like The Woman King’s fictional Nawi, performed by Thuso Mbedu, a new member of the Agojie who comes into battle with Davis’ Nanisca.) The real-life Nawi was the final recognized member of the Agojie to outlive into the twentieth century; she lastly handed away in 1979.

The major sources of rigidity between historical past and The Woman King’s depiction of occasions come not within the particulars of the Dahomey’s warfare with the Oyo, however slightly with the political struggles and palace intrigue taking place amidst the battlefield scenes. In the movie, General Nanisca is depicted as a strident chief for change in Dahomey. She repeatedly urges Ghezo to finish the slave commerce, whereas he’s proven as reluctant to chop off considered one of his kingdom’s major sources of wealth. To show Dahomey doesn’t want slaves, Nanisca helps ramp up the nation’s manufacturing of palm oil, arguing that its export may substitute any misplaced revenue from slavery.

It makes for a fascinating story, however the consultants quoted in that Smithsonian article are uncertain any such incidents actually came about. They quote architectural historian Lynne Ellsworth Larsen who says “Do I feel it’s traditionally correct? I’m skeptical … These girls are symbols of power and of energy. But … they’re [also] complicit in a problematic system. They are nonetheless below the patriarchy of the king, and they’re nonetheless gamers within the slave commerce.

Any suggestion that King Ghezo determined to finish slavery in Dahomey because of the actions of Nanisca or every other members of the Agojie doesn’t appear to be mirrored in historical past, at the least not within the 1820s. Per Smithsonian:

In fact, Ghezo solely agreed to finish Dahomey’s participation within the slave commerce in 1852, after years of strain by the British authorities, which had abolished slavery (for not wholly altruistic causes) in its personal colonies in 1833. Though Ghezo did at one level discover palm oil manufacturing in its place income, it proved far much less profitable, and the king quickly resumed Dahomey’s participation within the slave commerce.

In different phrases, whereas the fictional Nanisca’s battle to alter her residence for the higher is thrilling to look at, it’s certainly a fictional battle set in opposition to actual historic occasions. History, as is usually the case, was a little extra difficult. But that doesn’t imply The Woman King isn’t a extremely entertaining and highly effective warfare movie.

For extra on the historical past of the Agojie, learn Smithsonian Magazine’s essay on Dahomey historical past.