When the wind blows, our ancestors push us too much into battle against those who enslave us.

I went to see a movie last Friday, The Woman King, loved it, the ancestors would love it.

Today, it's out in theaters. It's set 200 years ago in the West African Kingdom of Dahome,

which was a real place. Viola Davis plays a ferocious general named Nannisca,

who leads an army of women's soldiers against European slavers and an enemy African tribe.

We fight not just for today, but for the future. We are the spirit of victory. We are the blade of freedom.

The Woman Warriors of Dahome were also real, as is this uncomfortable truth.

Their kingdom got rich in part by capturing and selling its enemies into slavery.

Coming up on today's plane, the director tells us how she balanced a history that is both triumphant

and tragic.

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It's today explained I'm Noel King. The director, Gina Prince Bythwood, has proven herself in Hollywood.

Love and basketball beyond the lights, the old guard, but when she pitched the Woman King,

it was almost like Hollywood executives forgot her distinguished resume.

She wanted to make an action movie starring black women set two centuries ago,

where men are barely on screen. Hollywood was like...

...