Director Gina Prince-Blythewood is bringing us a historically inspired —albeit inaccurate portrayal— of the Dahomey Amazons from West Africa in what is present-day Benin. I say rather inaccurate because the Dahomey Amazons story was quite tame, and after seeing the trailer, I highly doubt that the film is portraying King Ghezo —the Dahomey sovereign— as the brutal slave trader who buttressed his empire and boasted about it by having his troops hunt down rival tribes, forcing them into domestic and then European slavery. But that’s another hot topic for discussion once the movie lands. For the moment, let’s talk about The Woman King release date.
With a story by Maria Bello and produced by Academy Award-winner Viola Davis, this upcoming film will tell us in an epic —exaggerated— fashion the way in which King Ghezo ran out of men because he sold them all into slavery to the Europeans and to fend off rival tribes who had the hots for him to get things even for putting their kith and kin into slavery, decided to conscript the women into an elite fighting tribal regiment.
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The Woman King Isn’t Actually Based On A True Story, But That’s OK
As stated earlier, King Ghezo was a really brutal sovereign who had rival tribes hunted down and sold into slavery for profit. That made him one of the worst and most despised native rulers of Africa between 1818 to 1859. Slave trade was natural to the Kingdom of Dahomey, who put it in practice way before the European colonizers landed in those shores. Albeit, the arrival of the Europeans saw a great financial opportunity for that Kingdom to prosper. Though it was another King called Huegbadja who —allegedly— created the regiment back in the 1600s, the story takes place during Ghezo’s rule, who rose to power via a coup with the assistance of a Brazilian slave trader at a moment when the British were trying to stop the slave trade. The film will try to portray Ghezo as a reformer who’s trying to stop the slave trade when in reality, he was benefitting handsomely from it. But that’s OK if you’re not willing to pay attention to the historical detail that we’re going to see Viola Davis kicking major butt!
The Woman King Trailer
Cast
In the lead role of a Dahomey Amazon, we have Academy Award Viola Davis, Thuso Moedu —from Amazon Prime Video’s “The Underground Railroad— will play Nawi, Lashana Lynch —from Doctor Stange in The Multiverse of Madness— will also appear. Sheila Atim —from The Lightning Child— plays Amenza. Hero Fiennes Tiffin —from Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince— will play Santo Ferrerira. John Boyega —from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed— will play King Ghezo of Dahomey. Adrienne Warren —from Bring it on!— will play Ode. Jayme Lawson is cast in an unrevealed role. Masali Baduza —from BBC’s Noughts + Crosses— will play Fumbe. Beninese Grammy Award-winner Angelique Kidjo will also play a role not yet specified in this movie. And rounding up the cast we have Jimmy Odukoya, Jordan Bolger, Zozibini Tunzi, Makgolso M, and Siv Ngesi.
The Woman King Release Date
The Woman King will release theatrically on September 16, 2022. And the distribution is in charge of Sony Pictures Releasing. As stated earlier, this movie was directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood —who directed Love & Basketball and Disappearing Acts— out of a story by Maria Bello —you may remember her from Coyote Ugly, as Anna Del Amico in ER and Agent Sloane in NCIS— penned as a script by Dana Stevens, who wrote the script for movies like City of Angels, The World Is Not Enough and What About Brian. What do you think of this upcoming movie? Are you checking it out just to see how it goes? Are you a history buff like me? In any case, that’s all the time we have for the moment for this upcoming Viola Davis movie here at Otakukart. Thanks for your attention, and see you soon!
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