Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and on September 16 in the US, ‘La Mujer Rey’ has established itself as a critical and box office success and one of the titles to watch during the awards season that, in a way, is already in progress. In the meta site Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 95%. The consensus reads: “All hail Viola Davis! The female king dominates!” How is she doing it and how will she continue to conquer kingdoms in her international premiere?
“La Mujer Rey” was mentioned a couple of years ago as a real life version of “Black Panther”, the most successful title in history with a cast that is confirmed to be mainly women of color. The marketing campaign has promoted it as an epic action film, reminiscent of “Braveheart” and “Gladiator”, in that unusual mix that suggests it’s not just about it, but that there is an emotional background and even more social.
The story deals with the Dahomey kingdom, a dominant African people during the 17th to 19th centuries, and especially the Agojie, a military group made up only of women (where it also refers to “Black Panther” where the Dora Milaje are) . The trailers and previews suggest that it is a celebration of female strength, which is largely true, but there is more below the surface of the film.
Without referring to specific characters or situations in the film to avoid spoilers, “La Reina Rey”, initially shows the practices of the group of warrior women, who were required, as part of their training, to suppress all emotion and human inclination. Compassion, love and even pain were not allowed. The Agojie could not marry, have lovers or have children. That start equates them with their male counterparts.
The Agojie fight for the freedom of their people, Dahomey. For this they have been taught that they must conquer their enemies through domination, imposing their will. As the film progresses, the characters realize that more than fighting against someone, they are fighting for something. In the process, one of the young characters wonders why they are not allowed what the warrior men are. She gives herself the opportunity to have fun in training, to help others, to be compassionate and to build friendly relationships.
All Agojie are marked by pain (due to some trauma, family deaths, rape, among others). They are survivors and have been taught to store that pain, adding it to everything else that must be reserved, as if it had not happened. However, it is there and it is until they accept it, face it and assimilate it, realizing that they are part of a cycle and that they cannot avoid feeling and having affection. Love and pain, like other emotions, are no longer something that makes them weak, on the contrary, it gives them a reason to fight. They stop fighting for Dahomey to fight for their people.
Then, “La Mujer Rey”, with its reconciling speech between the feminine and the masculine and, even more, the revaluation that is made of the second, where victory is not an isolated concept, which operates as a result of assuming who one is. and for whom they fight, it stops being just an action movie to connect emotionally, yes with women of color, but with any woman, with any human being.