Women on top

A drama with forceful female performances impresses with its scraps.

THE WOMAN KING directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

With its hyped-up trailer – Beyoncé’s My Power blasts over battle scenes and characters’ death stares – The Woman King might look like just another superhero movie. But that’s misleading. This is a based-on-history action drama, one of forceful female performances and more than a whiff of Braveheart in its tale of African female freedom fighters. It’s far more interesting than anything Marvel would put out, although, ironically it took the box-office success of that studio Afro-superhero Black Panther to get The Woman King made.

Viola Davis (Fences, Doubt) leads the charge as Nanisca, General of the Agojie, the all-female army trained to protect the West African kingdom of Dahomey, reigned over by charismatic King Ghezo (Star Wars’ John Boyega).