Some moviegoers are calling for a boycott of Viola Davis’s new film, The Woman King.
The film premiered in theaters this past weekend and has received negative reviews. The movie set off an intense debate on the depiction of the characters.
Many critics have given the cold shoulder to the film because of the whitewashing of history.
According to the critics, the African tribe, Dahomey, and their all-female military, the Agodjie, are presented as empowering. When in fact, they were heavily involved with the Atlantic slave trade.
If you’re unaware, Dahomey was a tribe that captured and sold off Black slaves to Europeans in the 17th/18th/19th century. This was a good trade for Dahomey’s until the British forced them to stop in the mid-1800s.
The trailer for the film does not showcase any of this. Instead, it shows Viola training new recruits for the Agodjie and battling against white colonizers in a showdown.
Unfortunately, this has caused many people to call out Sony for rewriting history and minimizing Dahomey’s involvement.
A few historians also believe that the film blurs the lines by making Dahomey look like victims of circumstance than willing participants.
Nevertheless, others who have seen the movie says everyone should watch it for themselves before boycotting.
Ignorant! Dahomey was a country, not a tribe!
Negative reviews? It’s at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and has an A+ Cinemascore
It was an EPIC movie!!Viola Davis was amazing -her character was difficult to portray and Viola Davis delivered the real story -strength of character -fortitude to have a voice -even in a patriarchal society -the women prevailed as leaders, fighters and healers.