I finally watched the film "The Woman King" on Now, a streaming service. It is a good story, and the actors seem convincing. We have Viola Davis as Nanisca (the leader of the Dahomey Amazons). Then was Lashana Lynch (Black female 007), who played Izogie, and we also have John Boyega as King Ghezo. However, since I belong to the Yoruba tribe, which was part of the Oyo Empire, looking at the film, some parts shocked me. The Oyo Empire were the bad guys in the film. The Oyo Empire bad guys had beards, appeared vicious and muscular, rode horses, and had headscarves like Arabs, spoke with loud voices, with ludicrous hairstyles and ugly scars. There was a part in the film where the whole Oyo Empire and their allies, including the Igbo, got together to destroy the "independent freedom-loving" Dahomey. I almost fell, laughing because the concept was so comical. It did seem ridiculous and full of so many falsities at numerous levels. Anyone who has read West African History will see this as out of shink.
I guess now I know how the Germans, Arabs, Russians, Vietnamese, English, etc., feel when depicted as evil and terrible in Hollywood films, especially when they bring the accent in all the action/war films. You know who the bad guys are. It is always over the top. The only thing missing is a pair of horns, wings, fangs, a tail and a prodding stick that the demons carry. However, they got some things right. The Oyo calvary was well-known and feared. Our traditional cloth - "Ofin"- was well-known and used for parties and occasions. There was a female warrior group in Dahomey, which was quite good. The role of the British in stopping the Slave trade and the fact that the Portuguese were still pushing for it. But they seem not to mention it enough, as the British not only patrolled the West African coast to enforce abolition, they tried to force other nations to play ball to abolish slavery via economic means. The Dahomey was a tributary of the Oyo Empire and had to pay tribute to Oyo. When the British caught a slave ship, they "liberated" the individuals and placed them across the coast in Sierra Leone, Liberia, etc, and anywhere else along the West African coast. That, too, caused a lot of disruption, but it is the best they could do considering the circumstances. I now understand why people in Sierra Leone and other parts of West Africa have Yoruba names.
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| Yoruba Soldiers in traditional clothing |
One thing they did not stress in the film, and it seems they just grossed over, was that Dahomey was a slave state. They grew rich from slavery. They raided their own people and other tribes. The Kingdom of Dahomey's economy was built on slavery. The British forced the Kingdom to look at alternative means via growing other cash crops like Palm Oil, Cocoa, Ground nuts, Rubber, timber, Corn, etc. "The Kingdom of Dahomey was a bloodthirsty society bent on conquest. It was customary for the Dahomey to return home with the rotting heads and genitals of those they killed in battle. They conquered neighbouring African states and took their citizens as slaves, selling many in the Atlantic slave trade in exchange for items like rifles, tobacco, and alcohol". The women warriors joined the attacks, and they beheaded the elderly and those who were sick and carried the rest into slavery.
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| Agojie female warriors, as depicted by the film |
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| The real Agojie warriors |
However, Dahomey was formed due to the demand for slaves, and the British were active in the trade before they had a change of heart. Hence, this terrible story had no good or bad guys. Oyo, Dahomey, British, etc., but we know those who suffered terribly and have an idea of those who eventually tried to stop it. But in the film, the Good Guys were Dahomey, and the Bad Guys were Oyo.
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