'The Woman King' and when movies aren't history lessons

It's Been a Minute

NPR

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4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When our host Brittany Luse first heard of The Woman King – a film about an all-women warrior unit defending the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the years of the Atlantic slave trade – the idea made her nervous. Hollywood's record with Black historical dramas is pretty checkered. But then she saw it.

In this episode, Brittany breaks down the film's significance and the task of approaching historical representations in fiction. She sat down with actor Sheila Atim – who plays the warrior Amenza – to talk about the physical trainings, the joys of making a movie with actors from across the diaspora and how Atim has played characters on different sides of the Atlantic slave trade. Then Brittany is joined by Maya Cade, creator and curator of Black Film Archive, and culture critic Shamira Ibrahim. They discuss how to square historical accuracy with a satisfying Hollywood narrative.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to It's Been a Minute from MPR.
0:05.9	I'm your host, Brittany Loose.
0:08.0	And as this is only my second week as your new host, I feel like we're still getting
0:12.1	to know each other and I should just be honest with you, right?
0:15.7	So I gotta come clean about something.
0:18.9	When I first heard about the woman king, a big budget holly would film that centers powerful
0:24.7	black women, I was kind of nervous.
0:28.8	Not because of the talent, I mean, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Sheila Ahtine, and the
0:34.0	viola dearest for self, all in the same cast.
0:37.3	With Gina Prince Biford directing, that's an o-brainer.
0:41.6	And the story itself was interesting.
0:43.7	Based on true events, the woman king is an action-packed war epic centered on the agogy,
0:49.2	an all-woman warrior unit.
0:51.0	The film follows them as they train to defend the West African Kingdom of Dahome, and the
0:56.0	days of the Atlantic slave trade.
0:58.1	The reason I was nervous about the woman king was that black historical drama films can
1:02.3	easily go left, even with the best of intentions.
1:06.4	Hollywood can really fumble the ball.
1:08.8	But still, I bought a ticket and I saw the woman king opening week.
1:13.1	I should put you out.
1:14.1	I have watched soldiers die because they did not have discipline.
1:18.0	They easily did not prepare them for the day.
	...

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