Much-awaited and widely acclaimed The Woman King is all set to hit the theaters on September 16, 2022, with Hollywood and Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis leading an all-female military regiment to fight against the colonizers. Fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for The Woman King movie as it is one of those rare instances, a major motion picture had really captured the legacies of African history. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King is written by Dana Stevens, based on a story she wrote with Maria Bello. The Woman King star cast includes Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, John Boyega, and more. Academy Award winner Viola Davis will be playing the title role - The Woman King and will be seen training a next-gen all-female army regiment in order to fight for their country. Now, the question arises whether The Woman King is a true story or The Woman King is a real or not.
The answer to this question is yes. The Woman King is a true story based the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 18th Century with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. The Woman King revolved around the heart African history who saved its Kingdom of Dahomey in the late 18th century from getting enslaved by colonizers. The Woman King centers on Nansica (Viola Davis) who prepares an army of all women to fight for their kingdom against the tyrannical colonizers.
In 1823, the kingdom of Dahomey was under the oppression of the Western-influenced, richer Oyo empire. The Kingdom of Dahomey was forced to pay tribute in the form of virgins, guns and captives to be sold into slavery to European colonizers. To be precise, the Dora Milaje were modeled after the Agojie warrior women (also known as the Dahomey Amazons), defended the western African kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin) in the 1800s.
The history archives say that this unusual emergence of an all-female military regiment was the result of Dahomey's male population facing high casualties in the increasingly frequent violence and warfare with neighbouring West African states, which led to Dahomey being forced to annually give male slaves to particularly the Oyo Empire, which used that for commodity exchange as part of the growing phenomenon of slave trade in West Africa during the Age of Discovery. The lack of men most likely led the kings of Dahomey to recruit women into the army.
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Furthermore, talking about The Woman King star cast, Viola Davis plays the character of General Nansica. Thuso Mbedu plays an ambitious young girl called Nawi, who is newly recruited into the army. John Boyega portrays the real-life King Ghezo whose reign over the Kingdom of Dahomey lasted from 1818 to 1859. 'After' fame actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin stars as Santo Ferreira and plays the character of a man from Europe who arrives in Africa as a part of its colonization.