A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Starring: Viola Davis, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Jordan Bolger, Sheila Atim
Really cool aesthetic and a very cool little slice of history to talk about, but I wonder how accurate the movie will be in its portrayal of what happened.
The trailer seems to indicate that this is a story about indigenous peoples defending their homeland against dirty imperialist Europeans, but in reality the Dahomey were Imperialists themselves (and slavers) and were the aggressors in both wars. In fact the first and second French-Dahomey wars were basically started because the Dahomey just couldn't stop trying to conquer one of their smaller, weaker neighbors, which pissed off the French because the smaller nation was under French protection.
So we'll see. It's kind of funny how in the trailer the girl's like "somethings are worth fighting for!" and I'm like "like slavery?"
__________________
"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
Probably even less so, as Gladiator and Braveheart at the least weren't lazy pandering to modern politics. I fully expect one of the evil Frenchmen to make a Trump quote right before he gets gutted.
But hopefully I'm wrong.
__________________
"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
I do enjoy actors with American accents putting on stereotypical almost comedic generic African accents though. It was cringey in Black Panther and it's even more so in this. Why didn't they have them learn Fon or whatever language they spoke?
__________________ Sweating on the streets of Woking
The director of the National Museum of Scotland said Braveheart is at least 95% fiction, that aside from people's names, dates and names of location, it was all made up.
Gladiator is pretty much all fiction, aside from Rome existing and some names being correct, yet I don't care, it's still one of my favorite films that I watch over and over.
But going from the trailer, this is going to be largely fiction, still looks fun though. Would be a welcome surprise if they hit on the Black on Black slavery aspect and Dahomey being a highly violent/aggressive and militaristic kingdom.
This goes beyond merely historical inaccuracy though. It's analogous to a modern movie portraying the Confederacy as the "good guys" fighting for their independence.
Thankfully, the country has mostly shifted on its views of the Confederacy in the past few decades. And modern Hollywood would certainly not portray them as the heroes of the conflict.
While it is possible, if it does portray Dahomey is a negative light I would be shocked. Nothing they've shown suggest that at all. Quite the opposite. All the trailers they've released makes this seem to be a black empowerment film, something like Black Panther. But we will see.
Last edited by ares834 on Aug 9th, 2022 at 05:04 PM
How's that compare to this woman carrying the whole of Africa on her back! That's a way higher level of freedom fighting, at least by a factor of two if not three.
I fully expect this to be a Black empowerment film and I'm fine with that, just curious how they'll handle the slave trade aspect, sugarcoat, completely ignore, or be blunt.
Though slavery in Africa was different many a time, more like an indentured servant, who could work off the slavery debt and be freed. The Dahomey did have an annual festival where they sacrificed slaves though, doubt they'll touch on that at all.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 8th, 2022 03:39 PM
