4.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div> Set in 19th Century West Africa, The Woman King feels as landmark as 2018\u2019s Black Panther when it comes to representation. While that Marvel superhero entry was a significant moment in Black culture, this historical action drama carries similar weight. It\u2019s a largely <\/span>fictionalised story of the Agojie, an all-female group of warriors formed to protect the Dahomey Kingdom \u2013 what is now Benin. But just as vitally, it\u2019s also a cracking good yarn.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span>The \u201cbloodiest bitches in Africa\u201d, as one colonial disparagingly calls them, these highly trained women will stop at nothing to guard their kingdom and its ruler, <\/span>King Ghezo (John Boyega)<\/span>. Early on, we see an endurance test as two of the Agojie square off against each other. Held between them is a stick, with a spearhead at both ends pressing into their torsos. The first to relent loses, as the blood starts seeping from their flesh. It\u2019s a grim detail, but proof of their commitment to the cause.<\/span><\/p> Leading the Agojie is the battle-hardened Nanisca (Viola Davis), a woman whose bravery is only matched by her morality. She has no qualms about fighting her male counterparts from the rival Oyo Kingdom or provoking them with a very special delivery \u2013 a basket of severed heads. While Davis has always been capable of sternness \u2013 see her shouty Amanda Waller in the Suicide Squad films \u2013 this is another level. Lean and muscular, she scowls and prowls, sweat glinting off her skin. <\/span><\/p>\nTrauma hidden in Nanisca\u2019s backstory will form part of the narrative, triggered when she faces an old enemy from the Oyo. She must also contend with 19-year-old Nawi (Thuso Mbedu, who came to prominence in Barry Jenkins\u2019s Amazon Prime series, The Underground Railroad). Abandoned by her father, after she refused an arranged marriage, Nawi is dumped on the Agojie who recruit her and shape her into a warrior. At first she\u2019s weak and unfit, but she is also determined. \u201cYou are powerful, more than you even know,\u201d she is told by <\/span>Nanisca<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s able and wise deputy <\/span>Izogie (Lashana Lynch)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\nEventually, <\/span>Nanisca<\/span> and Nawi\u2019s arcs will intertwine in ways that could be considered overly melodramatic or contrived \u2013 but then The Woman King is not a film that practises subtlety. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (who previously helmed The Old Guard, with Charlize Theron) conducts this film on the grandest of scales: the action is epic, the emotions are too. Like the bloodiest of Shakespearean plays, it\u2019s a film that rarely pauses for breath, urged on by Terence Blanchard\u2019s thundering score.<\/span><\/p>\n