‘Woman King,’ Viola Davis and the culmination of a struggle

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

TORONTO (AP) — When Viola Davis, sculpted and hardened from months of training, first stood in the full garb of the Agojie warrior women, with her bare feet in the African sand, it was the culmination of not just the years-long push to make “The Woman King,” but of a lifelong battle. “The Woman King” is a $50 million action epic, set in 1820s West Africa, about the all-female army of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Made overwhelming by women and featuring an almost completely Black cast, it is powerfully unlike anything Hollywood has ever produced. And just as much as “The Woman King” dramatizes the fierce fighting of the Agojie, the film represents its own struggle. It opens in theaters Friday.