Cinema Therapy — Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D.

The Woman King

The Woman King is a movie that brings to light a significant but often overlooked aspect of African history, that between the years 1620 and the early 1800s, black tribes in Africa sold black captives of war into slavery to Europeans, and relied on this slave trade for economic growth.

The movie takes place during the 1820s in the Kingdom of Dahomey, located in Western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, and was one of the tribes that participated in this notorious Atlantic Slave Trade practice. This conflict serves as the focus of the story, along with the emotionally transformative journey of General Nanisca, the leader of Africa's only female army, the Agojie.

General Nanisca (played by Oscar-winner Viola Davis) has a past that haunts her, but she has the respect of the king, and is on his council where she strongly urges him to avoid the slave trade and find alternative methods of riches. She knows she must convince him. She also knows she must show her "strength" as a warrior before he takes her seriously and allows her to assume the throne beside him.

When Nanisca begins training a new group of female recruits, it stirs up old memories of her past when she’d been captured, and repeatedly raped and beaten by the pro-slave trade Oyo tribe. This traumatic event is what had fueled her rage, and had propelled her to establish her warrior army. While in captivity, Nanisca had given birth to a daughter (Nawi), but out of shame she gave her away.

Though the story is largely fictionalized, it is based on true events and the accounts of real-life Agojie women. For example, General Nanisca’s adolescent daughter in the film, Nawi, was a real person who lived to be over 100 years old, passing away in 1979. She was one of the last of the great Agojie warriors, dubbed “Dahomey Amazons" by the French. (The Agojie recruited tall, agile, athletic teenage girls from local villages and put them through extensive training, requiring extraordinary discipline, physical prowess, and conditioning in intense combat).

In the film, which has many subplots, Izogie (young Nawi's mentor) is captured and killed by the neighboring pro-slavery Oyo Empire. Fumbe (a warrior friend), escapes and reports the captive’s fate to Nanisca, who defies the King's orders and sets out with her group of warriors to rescue the remaining captives. At the time of Nawi’s birth, Nanisca had embedded a shark’s tooth in the child’s left shoulder, which is how later on she was able to confirm that Nawi was her biological daughter. Now, she has given birth to “warrior women,” uniting them to stand together against their oppression, and that solidarity became the basis of their nation’s strength; their victimization has been turned into power and empowerment.

During the film’s battle chaos between the Agojie and the Oyo tribe, Nanisca kills Oba, the one who had raped and impregnated her (with Nawi), and Nawi is able to escape and reunite with Nanisca). The triumphant Agojie warriors return to Dahomey, where King Ghezo admonishes Nanisca for disobeying him by going to war against the Oyo, but then finally signals agreement to harvest palm oil instead of humans. He invites Nansica to sit beside him as his partner, and crowns her as the Woman King.

The Film’s Psychological Implications
The Woman King exemplifies the evolution of human potential when driven by a passionate cause, and the characters serve as powerful metaphors for this journey in its portrayal of Dahomey's people and culture, and the country's rich past, highlighting the central conflict of the Dahomey Kingdom's participation in the Atlantic Slave Trade, and the role of the all-female Agojie army led by General Nanisca in trying to stop it. The practice for the Kingdom of Dahomey officially came to a halt when the French outlawed slavery, although it continued to thrive elsewhere in the world for many more years.

Myth and the Struggle to Change: Mythologist and storyteller, Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth, 1988) argues that folk tales of heroic adventures were an integral part of all world cultures, and that these timeless archetypes continue to have a powerful influence on the choices we make and the ways we live. Myths bring humans to understand and accept the roles we play and the cycle of life: birth, growth and death. The Woman King is just such a story, retelling the adventures of its characters as they transcend each stage of development to the next. Myths are there to help transition from childhood to maturity, and then from maturity and full capacity to losing those powers and moving into death, and then rebirth.

Through the lens of each character’s role, the film allows us to view the different aspects of the self and their coming together to form a sense of wholeness. Ceremonies of initiation move Nawi from being a defiant child into each new stage. Then, the two women, Nanisca and Nawi are brought closer together as their stories unfold: the mother and daughter of the rape. The death of the mentor, Izogie, symbolizes that her position as Nawi's mentor is no longer needed because Nawi has now matured into her own person. King Ghezo welcomes Nanisca as an equal partner, as The Woman King, as wholeness.

The Internal Family systems Model: Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach to psychotherapy that identifies and addresses multiple sub-personalities or “families” within each person's mental system. The IFS model can be applied to the dynamics of couples, families, and between the sub-personalities within the individual in a therapy situation. The IFS model can also be applied to the dynamics of the main characters in The Woman King. It recognizes the presence of multiple sub-personalities through the interactions between General Nanisca’s matriarchal role, the adolescent Nawi, the mentor Izogie, and King Ghezo. The women of Dahomey were powerful Black women who asserted their power and took their place in the kingdom. The Woman King takes on new meaning and finds relevance in the modern era, as it portrays Black women carrying power, depth, and interiority, while finding strength within themselves and other Black women. The story offers insight into what it meant to be African and the place of traditional African values in societies heavily influenced by European culture.

The film is a powerful reminder of the importance of recognizing the multiple internal aspects that dwell within and one's own power and potential, and the role of women as leaders and agents of change. If only women would give birth to the internal queen/king in their own lives

Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D. (PSY22909) is a clinical psychologist who practices in Encino. She leads Women's Empowerment Groups that help women learn the tools to move beyond self-destructive relationship patterns. She may be reached at 818.501.4123 or cgelt@earthlink.net. Her office address is 16055 Ventura Blvd. #1129 Encino, CA 91436.