Last Friday, 16th September 2022, I had the fine privilege of watching the freshly released movie, The Woman King' at the Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall. I took this first shot near this 'cover' with the inscription 'her reign begins' because it struck me - with the Queen of England's passing on 8th September, 2022...followed by King Charles III's ascension to the British throne, there's an interesting twist of 'her reign begins' to 'his reign begins'....particularly having this movie released and premiered in the same month of Queen Elizabeth II's death and funeral.
"The Woman King is a 2022 American historical epic film about the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries. Set in the 1820s, the film stars Viola Davis as a general who trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies." - Wikipedia
I must confess that watching this movie reminded me of the fact that many of us know very little about our history as Africans. This is understandable, as a bulk of our educational curricula was framed along foreign and not local lines. There's a lot to learn about our forefathers and foremothers. Our people were largely courageous and resilient. Earlier on today, a friend put up a post which read, 'Black people have the oldest and the greatest history. Don't let slavery be the only chapter you know'. It set me thinking, especially as a student who hasn't taken up a 'major' history course before :)...how was life before the slave trade era and what good things can we learn from then? Which of the stories from that era are worth keeping and re-telling? Last month, I met a young man at a party and he said he was going to study along the lines of film-making because he believes it would make a great impact if a larger number of Africans join the efforts to tell our stories via movies. We spoke about how it would be interesting to see the story of Yaa Asantewaa told in a similar fashion to the 'Black Panther' movie (Wakanda-forever-poses in some of my pictures :) ).
Prior to watching 'The Woman King', I didn't know that one of the only documented female armies in modern history was found in West Africa. That's cool. :) "The Dahomey Amazons (Fon: "Agojie", "Agoji", "Mino", or "Minon") were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey which existed from the 1600s until 1904." - Wikipedia
So lately, we hear lots about women being our own enemies in many areas of life, and it's a beauty to behold how our foremothers lived, fought and worked together. Unity in purpose and vision. Courage. Strength.
My favourite scenes from the movie portrayed victory. The joy of the 'agojies' when they successfully completed their 'military' training regime and were pronounced victors. The joy, relief and celebration! Plus when 'Nanisca' was proclaimed and celebrated as the woman king :) The cheers, dances and celebration! My comment was this - how sweet it would be, to hear the King of kings one day tell us, ' Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Matthew 25:23
The cheers from the cloud of witnesses who have gone ahead of us, the joy of heaven, the celebration!
Quotes from the movie that would stay with me:
1. "We fight or we die"
Generally, I think the people of old (both 'ancient fathers & mothers' of the Christian faith and fore-fathers & mothers of my West African heritage) took life more seriously than many of us do lately. Charles Wesley's words in the hymn 'A charge to keep I have' go this way - "Assured, if I my trust betray, I shall forever die." Having death and the strict account we need to give when all is said and done in mind, should spur us on daily, to live lives worthy of our calling as Christians. Time no dey. We fight or we die.
2. "We fight not only for ourselves but for our sisters and the future"
Selflessness. Future in mind. Living beyond ourselves and our comforts. Doing our best in our generation in light of future generations.
Selah.
Saturday 17th September 2022
Tema, Ghana.
