In the opening sequence of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,” there is a moment in which Nanisca (Viola Davis) slings her machete over her shoulder and stares down the small encampment of men she and her coterie of female soldiers are about to attack. Not an ounce of fear pierces through her steely eyes nor flashes across her stone face, since, clearly, she has fought many battles, both emotional and physical, and walked away from each one a bit more hardened than when she marched into it. Yet her icy demeanor is caked in a thick enough layer of weariness for you to know that with every one, she has been forced to leave behind a small part of herself on the battlefield. From the second she is introduced, you have a firm grasp on who Nanisca is, thanks to Davis’ lived-in performance — one that would make her a worthy Best Actress Oscar nominee.
Written by Dana Stevens and inspired by real events, “The Woman King” is about an elite military unit of all-female warriors called the Agojie that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Having returned to the kingdom after being captured by the Oyo as a young soldier and left for dead, Nanisca, the army’s fictionalized commander-in-chief, is a feared but revered seasoned warrior who has quietly risen in the ranks to a level of power. In addition to being a trusted advisor to King Ghezo (John Boyega), she trains the next generation of warriors — a task she carries out with intense earnestness, showing no leniency to those who misbehave.
Her ideology: to become a full-fledged warrior, you have to “kill your tears,” as she tells a weeping Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), one of the new recruits, after lecturing her on the importance of self-discipline. While this belief is partly rooted in her having witnessed countless soldiers succumb to their emotions on the battlefield, it mainly stems from the manner in which she’s dealt with her own pain. As we learn, she was gang-raped and impregnated during Oyo captivity, and gave away her baby girl right after birth. But instead of confronting her trauma, she buried it in her subconscious, drowning it in a pool of rage, because that was likely the only way she could prevent herself from going under it.
This suppression of her emotions has, however, engendered a lingering restlessness in Nanisca that Davis embodies with striking precision. Take the scene in which Nanisca is comforted by Amenza (Sheila Atim) after she is awoken by her recurring nightmare. When she gazes at her second-in-command and trusted confidante upon detailing her ominous dream, Davis is slightly hunched over and her eyes seemingly sore from exhaustion, as though Nanisca’s inner unrest were gradually gnawing away at her spirit, leaving her physically and emotionally depleted. It’s one of very few moments in the first half of the movie in which Davis allows her character’s vulnerability to bubble up to — though still not penetrate — her surface.
It’s in the wake of Nanisca coming face to face with one of her rapists, Oyo general Oba (Jimmy Odukoya), and identifying Nawi as her daughter that the emotions she has tried to stuff down finally come pouring out of her. After Nawi proudly reports that she’s heard of a looming Oyo attack, Nanisca scolds the young trainee for her continuous disregard of the rules. “I proved myself today. I am the best!” Nawi retorts. “It’s not enough to be the best!” Nanisca thunders against the 19-year-old in response. When Nawi retaliates by asserting she would never let herself get caught like Nanisca did, the latter rips off the band-aid, revealing what happened to her during Oyo captivity. What starts out as an expression of chilling dread on her face as she recounts her rape slowly melts into subtle guilt as she discloses to Nawi that she is her long-lost birth mother. Once Nawi, overcome with shock, retreats, Nanisca sheds a tear, releasing with it every feeling she has harbored, including the self-reproach for abandoning her baby girl, for the past 19 years.
This confrontation is very much the crux of Nanisca’s story as it’s thereafter that she begins to open her heart back up to both her younger self and her daughter, and is not just able to heal but become a better warrior because she learns to fight for the people she seeks to protect instead of against those she looks to defeat. Every beat in this climactic scene is played to utter perfection by Davis, whose final expression alone should secure her an Oscar nom.
SEE Viola Davis ascends into Best Actress Oscar top 5 for ‘The Woman King’
Sitting just outside the top five for most of the season, Davis vaulted into fifth place in our combined actress Oscar odds after racking up Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards bids, and has continued her ascent following her BAFTA longlist mention. But her citation is far from guaranteed. While “The Woman King” has pocketed some notable honors, cracking the top 10 at the National Board of Review and American Film Institute, it has missed out in crucial places, such as for the top prize at the Globes and Critics Choice, and only made it onto three longlists at BAFTA (the other two being supporting actress for Lashana Lynch and director). The good news is that it could get a big boost from important guilds as its box office success and stellar audience reception could give it a significant leg up. Should the historical epic pick up enough steam to make a dent in the Oscar nominations, there’s no doubt that Davis, a four-time nominee and winner for “Fences” (2016) — who could also be shortlisted as one of the film’s producers — would come along for the ride.
Although Davis will have to overcome the apathy the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shown toward performances from action films of late, the fact that she, in her mid-50s, bulked up in order to not only look the part but also perform her own stunts might be an achievement voters can’t overlook. So, let’s hope they do the right thing and bend the knee to the woman king herself.
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