Haven't seen anything on this here. So basic premise is take the real life antecedents of Wakanda's Dora Milaje, the Amazons of Dahomey. Seems topical and minority representation is a huge wave right now, and rightly so. The cast led by Viola Davis and John Boyega is strong. Problem is - the real life warriors were slavers. And they made them the good guys. They raided and warred extensively for slaves for the Atlantic slave trade, with some being kept in the kingdom itself. These slaves were sometimes used as human sacrifices, every year 500 were ritually decapitated in a Dahomey ceremony. The titular 'Woman King' never existed. The King Ghezo in the movie who offers to share his kingship never made such an offer. He did have some good traits, including exploring going into palm oil trade to reduce their reliance on slave trading. It never supplanted it. And stopping ritual human sacrifice, which was a huge moral change. But he also came to power with the help of a Portugese slaver, and explicitly rejected the call to end slavery. When confronted by the British who blockaded his ports due to Dahomey's pivotal role in the Atlantic slave trade, he stated: "The slave trade has been the ruling principle of my people. It is the source of their glory and wealth. Their songs celebrate their victories and the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery." He promised to end slavery in 1852, but had returned to the practice 5 years later. The Agojie, the female warriors, were expanded and helped end Dahomey's tribute status to Oyo, a rival kingdom. They did back the palm oil trade as a way to end reliance on the slave trade - but never freed their personal slaves, and continued the practice of enslaving workers to produce the palm oil. I get white washing history in Hollywood is a long tradition, but for the last few decades at least they've tried to avoid making the bad guys into the good guys overtly. There's been some really questionable decisions lately on that front. While Dahomey eventually fell to France and became a protectorate, we really need to get past the 'if you are a victim you are moral.' That really isn't true.
yeah, disappointed they've gone with this rather than Queen Nanny or some of the other Caribbean slave revolts. The revised history this requires makes it feel like that company making Gina Carano films is involved...
I mean on a topical level I agree there were a lot better stories to adapt but it's a bit sus when people who have never taken issue with the 1000s of other instances where Hollywood stretched the truth of a story into taffy are coming out to draw the line at this particular film.
