TheOrator.Press Online Inclusion, Diversity, Equity And Accountabilty Magazine Is Honoured To Have As This Month’s Guest Writer, The Woman, The Wife, The Mother, The Daughter, The Former Computer Company Secretary, The Artist, The Poet, The Socialite, The Community Leader, The Devoted Church Member, The Bajan (Married To A Jamaican), And The All Round Gorgeous Human Being, Jeanette Thompson As Our Guest Film Reviewer This Month.
Review By @Janpatrice123, Art By @Barosarre, And By @kwandaxaba, Edited By @TheOrator.Press.On.Insta, Film By Sony Pictures
Democracy Is Everything To Us Here At TheOrator.Press And In Honour of That We Invited Jeanette Thompson (Who Features With Her Husband In Our Valentines Day Special This Month) To Do A Review On The Woman King. And We Are Honoured That She Accepted Because Frankly We Have Different Perspectives. We Believe It’s Important To Look Back And Learn, She Believes It’s All About Moving Forward Regardless of The Past. Both of Us Believe Nonetheless That We Should All Be Able To Have Civilized Debate And Agree To Differ. An Approach Which Is Much Missing All Too Often Amongst Today’s So Called Leaders.
Can We Please Just Clock Those Deltoid, Bicep And Abdominal Muscles For A Moment. And Fact That Ms Davis Is A Septagenarian. As Is Our Guest Reviewer, Mrs Jeanette Thompson. Both Women, Inside And Out Are Beautiful In Their Maturity. “I’m Going To Be Like Her” Please God! We Know How Nawi Feels.
I Approached This Film With Some Trepidation, Knowing It Would Be A Tough Watch. The Topic Of Slavery Fills Me With Foreboding Not Wanting To Re-Visit A Past Where Our Ancestors Were Treated With Brutality Hatred, Degradation.
Yet From The Outset I Was Gripped.
The Opening Scene Is One Of Carnage.
We Witness The Woman Of The Agojie In Full Fighting Spirit. With Each Slash Of A Blade, Thrust, Twist, We See They Are A Force To Be Reckoned With. The Camera Pans To The Face Of Our Hero. We Are Drawn Into The Battle As She Lunges And Slashes Her Opponent. We See The Guts, Fighting Spirit, Determination To Win This Battle As Her Army Of Woman Soldiers Fight, Sometimes To The Death, To Win This Battle.
And They Do.
With Gusto. With Pride.
Thankfully There Is Not A Lot of Blood or Gore On The Screen. This Is Left To Our Imagination.
Nanisca Has a strength That Is Beyond Our Previous Comprehension of What It Is To Be A Woman. In Her We See A Leader. A Warrior. A True Defender of Her King As One of The King’s Men. Sorry. As One of The King’s Women. Yes. Women! And Her People. And She Fights With The Strength And Determination And Inherent Desperation of A Gladitor.
With A Deep Innate Desire To Free The Slaves And Develop A More Sustainable Pathway For Her People Into The Realms of Humanity, Peace And Harmony, She Has A Vision of Enterprise And Independence Involving The Production of Palm Oil, One of Her Nation’s Natural Resources. In Order For Her Vision To Manifest She Must First Influence The King, King Ghezzo (Played With A Great Maturity By South London Son Turned Hollywood Actor John Boyega).
There Is Depth To Nanisca As The Film Reveals In Time The Human Reality That Most Individuals Are Not One Dimensional. Her Back Story Reveals Vulnerability, Compassion And Loyalty. She Is A Warrior. She Is A Woman. She Is A Human Being. And She Has Not Lost Her Femininity Nor Humanity Despite Her Military Commitments!
Above: @ViolaDavis ~ Nanisca @JohnBoyega ~King Ghezo
Opposite: @Lashana Lynch In Full Warrior Mode As Zogie, After Her Stint As 007 In The Daniel Craig Exit Hit ‘No Time To Die’
Released In Cinemas November 2022 It Is Now Available To Buy or Rent on Amazon Prime
actress Thuso Mebedu @Thuso.Mbedu Stars As Young Nawi Who Aspires To Be Like Her Regal Edler, Nanica The Woman King Who She Looks Up To. The Thirty something South African Is Blessed With The Divine Quadruple Dynamic Of Having A Baby-faced angelic youth, The Mentality & Maturity of A Young Woman In Her Thirties, And the Acting Ability To Pull of The appearance of a teenager, And Yet The strength of character that Belies her slight, Elphin appearance. She Is Adorable And Brings Out A Natural Protective Instinct.
And Yet Because of These Blessings Her Character In The Film Has To Prover Herself Fit To Be Part of The King’s Female Army And Each Day Is Trial By Fire. Entry into the Agojie Training Camp Is Not Going To Be Easy, No Matter How Pretty or Elphinlike She Is. Each Day Is Fraught With Danger & Intrigue.
To Garner The Sense of Grit And Grind Required For The Job, Fitness Trainer @Gabriela McLain Put The Whole Cast Through Extensive Intensive Training At Least Ninety Minutes A Day For Four Months Straight. There Were Weights, Swords, Swears, Swimming, Plus Martial Arts Moves Courtesy of Danny Hernandez. And The Results Are Self-Evident. These Women Look, Move, Think, Speak And Fight Like Warriors. And Yet This Modern Day Agojie Were Ultimately Modern Day Actors Honouring Their Forebears.
One of The Best Lines In The Film Is Delivered By British Actress @Lashana Lynch Who From Her 007 Days Is Fully Au Fait With Fierce Fight Training And A World Away From Her Latest Role As Miss Honey In Matilda. Here She’s A Warrior of The Highest Calibre And A Tough Teacher. But One With A Compassionate And Humorous Nature.
The First Rule of Training…
Always Obey Izogie!
‘I’ ‘Am’ Izogie!!
Lashana Lynch As Warrior Leader In ‘The Woman King’ Training Warrior Junior, Nawi
Today Dahomey Is Part of The Benin Republic History, And Benin Is An Independent Former French Colony (Having Been Colonized In 1894 And Liberated In 1960). French Is The Dominant Language With Different Tribal Dialects Including Yoruba, Dendi, Bariba And Fon. Benin Is Now A Member of The United Nations, The African Union And The Economic Community of West African States.
The Adojie Female Army of 1800s West Africa Were Warriors By Land & Sea Within The Kingdom of Dahomey.
This High Production Value Afro-Centric Film Spectacularly, Respectfully & Inspiringly Brings Alive The Story of The Dahomey People of Benin West Africa And Their Fight Against The Against The Oyo People. It’s All Too Rare That We Have Seen sucn Respect From Hollywood In Black Story Telling. It Makes A Refreshing Difference And Is Long Overude. Times They Are a Changing. Soul Singer Sam Cooke And Others Did Say “A Change Is Gonna Come” And This Movie Is One Such Change.
As A Black Woman, I Felt Watching Their Achievements, Portrayed Not Only Through The Characters On The Screen, But Also Through Their Real-Life Personas, We Can See Strength, Loyalty, Camaraderie And Joy That Can Fill Us With A Great Sense of Pride.
British Actor John Boyega (Star Wars – Attack The Block) @JohnBoyega Co. Stars As King Ghezo. The Film Is Historically Kind to Him Which Is Arguably An Unhelpful Departure From Reality. He Is Depicted as a humanitarian King. Loyal to his people and strong in his opposition to the Rival Oyo people, who were Also a powerful Oppressive tribe. The Dahomney People Defeated Them And Did Win Independence From Them. But Factually It Is Documentated That This Ruler Was a cruel And prolific slave trader, who Attacked Other Tribes And Sold enemies to the Portuguese. in particular to slave Trader Santo Ferreira (Played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Nephew of Ralph Fiennes). The Dahomey People Are Today Historically Linked To The Benin Tribes of West Africa.
In The Film The Dahomey King’s Position On The thrown is supported by the women surrounding Him. His wife is jealous And against the trust he places in Other woman generally. And In That Sense she Is Dangerous And A Potential A Great Liability And Extra Worry, Adding An Extra Layer To The Film.
Jordon Bolger, British Actor And Former Peaky Blinder, Plays Malik With Great Charisma As The Love Interest In The Middle of It All @caramaka. There’s Something For Everyone. Entertainment, Action, Drama, Romance, 1800s African & European History, Narrated From The Black Perspective, Some Hard Tough Moments, Cause For Reflection, Great Scenery, Great Music By Composer @TerenceBlanchard And Dancing. And Some Great Victories.
In A Girl Power World, An Army of Well Trained, Well Disciplined, Well Impressive Fighting Female Black African Warriors Somehow Lifts The Spirits. But There Are Other Elements Which Are Much Harder To Watch. But It’s A Great Groundbreaking Epic And I Would Recommend People To See It. Great Strength (Often Untapped) Can Sometimes Abide In All Of Us, Whether We Are Men Or Women. And The Cinematic Expression of That In This Afro-Centric Epic Is Very Moving. And The Music, Movement And Dancing Throughout Is Very Beautiful, Powerful And Stirring.
Filmed In South Africa There Is A Great Sense of Authenticity And Credibility. It’s A Military Mite You Can Believe In And Might Even Want To Be In (Notwithstanding The Film’s Generous Historical Treatment of The King, Who It Is Well Documented Sold His Own Fellow Africans Into Slavery).
Artwork By @kwandaxaba
Most of All, The Change of Narrative Is Deeply Refreshing, Motivational And Inspiring. And We Hope There Will Continue To Be Brave & Beautiful Filmmakers Creating More Such Films In The Genre. It’s Long Overdue. Sony Movies And Director Gina Prince-ByTheWood @ gpbmadeit Have Done A Great Job.
In A Year That Saw Oscar Snubs For A Number of Black Filmmakers (Again) In January 2023 It Was Announced By The African American Film Critics Association @aafca That The Woman King Had Won Best Picture And Best Director (To Be Awarded At A Ceremony In March 2023). And It Was On President Obama’s List of Favourite Films of 2022 (Once A President – Always Addressed As President Thereafter). So Was ‘Till’ Directed By @chinonyechukwu (The Story of The Racist Torture, Murder And Disfigurement of 14 Year Old Child ‘Emit Till’, By The Klu Klux Klan In 1955). But It Was Snubbed By The Oscars As Was The Woman King.
Nonetheless It Still Received Two Screen Actors Guild Nominations @sagawards For Best Stunt Ensemble And Best Actress, Viola Davis. And It Was Nominated For A BAFTA Rising Star Award 2023 For Young Actress SheilaAtim. Davis Was Also Nominated For A Golden Globe Best Actress Award. (Viola’s Fellow Goddess Angela Bassett @im.Angela Bassett Won It For Black Panther: Wakander Forever!) And The Film Also Won Two NAACP Image Awards With Another Best Actress For Viola Davis And Another Best Director For Gina Prince-Bythewood.
“We Are Self-Validating, We Don’t Need Any Other Institution To Validate Our Talent, Our Art, Our Gifts, And Our Contribution To Shaping American Culture.
ceO NAACP image Derrick Johnson
Till Was An Amazing Film, The Woman King I’ve Seen About Four Times And I Get Chills Every Time …
We Don’t Need Outside Validation, We Have It Here.”
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