‘The Woman King’: 4 Ways the Real Agojie Women Defeated Male Armies
The movie The Woman King depicted the Dahomey army of Agojie warriors. Viola Davis plays General Nanisca, the commander of the Agojie army, while Izogie (Lashana Lynch) trains her new recruits. Davis, Lynch, and the women of The Woman King have epic battles against other armies, but the enemy armies consist of all men. Fortunately, the Agojie have ways to maximize their female power, and it’s backed up by history.
Based on a true story, The Woman King is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD. In behind-the-scenes bonus features, director Gina Prince-Bythewood and producer Cathy Schulman explain how the Agojie overpower imposing male forces.
2 ways the Agojie of ‘The Woman King’ used their bodies to their advantage
Schulman explained how the Agojie used their fingernails and body weight against men. The Woman King depicted some of those tactics. Davis trained daily for hours to pull off some of those moves.
“The kind of things they do to prepare are really quite incredible,” Schulman said. “They sharpen their nails into points. They learn how to use their own strength and their own body weight to take down numerous men for every one woman who stands.”
2 ways the Agojie of ‘The Woman King’ kept men off their backs
It’s one thing to poke male attackers and take them down. The Agojie also made sure men couldn’t turn the tables on them. Prince-Bythewood explained two of the ways the Agojie remained untouchable.
“They kept their hair short or it was braided so there was nothing for people to grab onto,” Prince-Bythewood said. “It was less clothing so that there was nothing for people to hold onto. One of the most important elements, they used palm oil and oiled their bodies so that in a fight, men could not grab onto them. They could not get a good grip on them.”
The costumes were significant too. Production designer Akin McKenzie discussed how there were no photographs of the Agojie, so they had to base the film on drawings and written accounts.
“Thank God there are sketches of these women from back in the day,” Prince-Bythewood said. “What was beautiful was when Gersha Phillips came on, our costume designer, it was great because Akin had already found these different books that actually described what these women actually wore. Then to know the color indigo, indigo dye was a big part of their culture, that meant a lot of their clothing had that beautiful indigo blue color which looks gorgeous on screen and on our women.”
Agojie weapons were brutal, too
The Woman King shows the Agojie train and fight with machetes. Prince-Bythewood described the personalized machetes depicted in The Woman King.
“The machete was the main weapon of the Agojie,” Prince-Bythewood said. “What was so beautiful is they were like works of art. They had designs on them. The handles were all individual. Nanisca’s is beautiful. It’s this beautiful Black woman with this crown of hair. Izogie’s is this cool animal on it. Everything was substantial. Everything was heavy. They had to really work at being able to handle these weapons.”
