Is ‘The Woman King’ a True Story?

The trailer for The Lady King advertises that it’s “Based mostly on Highly effective True Occasions.” The occasions depicted within the movie contain a bunch generally known as the Agojie, a ferocious platoon of feminine warriors who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Within the movie, it’s 1823 and the Dahomey are below assault from a neighboring kingdom, the Oyo Empire. A courageous Agojie normal named Nanisca (Viola Davis) who serves King Ghezo (John Boyega) works to guard her folks — and to persuade Ghezo that their nation’s participation within the slave commerce is a “poison” that should cease. (When each the Oyo and the Dahomey seize enemy combatants in battle, they promote these prisoners into slavery.)

That’s The Lady King’s story. However not like the trailer, the movie itself doesn’t really embody any form of title card claiming it’s a work of historic fiction — and it’s additionally value noting that saying one thing is predicated on “true occasions” will not be fairly the identical as saying one thing is predicated on a “true story.” Technically talking, The Amityville Horror is predicated on true occasions. The story that the movie model tells, although, is clearly a piece of fiction.

So is The Lady King a real story? Sure and no; the rigorously worded line within the trailer about “highly effective true occasions” was there for a purpose. A number of The Lady King is totally based mostly within the historic report. Some elements, although, will not be.

All the fundamental outlines of the premise and setting are correct. There actually was a kingdom known as Dahomey, dominated by a King Ghezo, who reigned there from 1818 to 1859. The nation did make use of an all-female regiment of its military generally known as the Agojie, who, as depicted within the movie, adhered to a monk-like existence. The Agojie lived within the King’s palace in their very own separate enclave away from all different males. They by no means married, they by no means had intercourse, they usually by no means had youngsters. (Or at the least they weren’t speculated to.) Simply as within the movie, the Dahomey stopped paying tribute to the Oyo after which defeated them in a battle that shifted the steadiness of energy within the area.

However as detailed by Smithsonian Journal, components of the movie are not true to the historic report. The movie’s two feminine leads, Nanisca and Nawi, are each fictional creations — though there have been members of the Agojie with these names at varied factors in historical past. In keeping with Smithsonian, the real-life Nanisca was noticed by a French naval officer in 1889, a long time after the occasions chronicled in The Lady King.

Fairly than a normal, the true Nanisca was a younger girl “who had not but killed anybody,” who was put via a trial very similar to those depicted within the movie. (Curiously, the true Nanisca sounds extra like The Lady King’s fictional Nawi, performed by Thuso Mbedu, a brand new member of the Agojie who comes into battle with Davis’ Nanisca.) The true-life Nawi was the final identified member of the Agojie to outlive into the twentieth century; she lastly handed away in 1979.

The principle sources of pressure between historical past and The Lady King’s depiction of occasions come not within the particulars of the Dahomey’s battle with the Oyo, however relatively with the political struggles and palace intrigue taking place amidst the battlefield scenes. Within the movie, Common Nanisca is depicted as a strident chief for change in Dahomey. She repeatedly urges Ghezo to finish the slave commerce, whereas he’s proven as reluctant to chop off considered one of his kingdom’s essential sources of wealth. To show Dahomey doesn’t want slaves, Nanisca helps ramp up the nation’s manufacturing of palm oil, arguing that its export might substitute any misplaced revenue from slavery.

It makes for an enchanting story, however the consultants quoted in that Smithsonian article are uncertain any such incidents actually passed off. They quote architectural historian Lynne Ellsworth Larsen who says “Do I believe it’s traditionally correct? I’m skeptical … These girls are symbols of power and of energy. However … they’re [also] complicit in a problematic system. They’re nonetheless below the patriarchy of the king, and they’re nonetheless gamers within the slave commerce.

Any suggestion that King Ghezo determined to finish slavery in Dahomey as a result of actions of Nanisca or every other members of the Agojie doesn’t appear to be mirrored in historical past, at the least not within the 1820s. Per Smithsonian:

In fact, Ghezo solely agreed to finish Dahomey’s participation within the slave commerce in 1852, after years of strain by the British authorities, which had abolished slavery (for not wholly altruistic causes) in its personal colonies in 1833. Although Ghezo did at one level discover palm oil manufacturing as a substitute income, it proved far much less profitable, and the king quickly resumed Dahomey’s participation within the slave commerce.

In different phrases, whereas the fictional Nanisca’s battle to alter her dwelling for the higher is thrilling to look at, it’s certainly a fictional battle set towards actual historic occasions. Historical past, as is usually the case, was a bit of extra difficult. However that doesn’t imply The Lady King isn’t a extremely entertaining and highly effective battle movie.

For extra on the historical past of the Agojie, learn Smithsonian Journal’s essay on Dahomey historical past.