Page 34 - Florida Sentinel 9-16-22

Black Excellence
Viola Davis' 'The Woman King' Is ‘A Spectacular, Action-Filled Epic'; Opens Friday In Theaters
VIOLA DAVIS AS 'THE WOMAN KING'
Black Women Did Well At The Emmys
The Emmys are usually one of the least popular of all the award shows, but this year, the Television Academy put in some effort to make it a tad more exciting.
For starters, the Black women in Hollywood had a fantastic night. Zendaya, Quinta Brunson, Lizzo and Sheryl Lee Ralph all walked away with much-de- served trophies.
If you were at all surprised about Zendaya winning in the Lead Actress in a Drama category, then you must have slept your way through Eu- phoria Season 2. Her per- formance in the second season’s fifth episode “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” solidified that she would be walking away with yet an- other trophy after winning in
SHERYL LEE RALPH
At the start of The Woman King, Viola Davis (Nanisca) lets out a war whoop that sends her all-fe- male army into battle, merci- lessly wielding spears and machetes. It takes nothing away from Davis's typically fierce performance, as a fic- tional 19th-Century African general named Nanisca, that the film's true star is its direc- tor.
Gina Prince-Bythewood
doesn't make a wrong move as she orchestrates all the ele- ments of this action-filled his- torical epic, filled with vivid characters and cultural reso- nance.
Known for the character- driven Love and Basketball (2000) and the action movie The Old Guard (2020), Prince-Bythewood blends the strengths of both films to spec- tacular effect in The Woman King.
The movie opens in theaters Friday,
Set in 1823, the story draws on the history of Dahomey, the real West African kingdom that existed from the 17th-19th Centuries in what is now Benin. The Agojie, the women's army guarding the king, was famous for its physi- cal strength and ferocity. The Agojie also inspired the fic- tional Dora Milaje warriors in
ZENDAYA, LIZZO AND QUINTA BRUNSON
the same category for Season 1. Zendaya is the now and the future, and there is no telling how far she will go.
Absolutely no one has had a more inspiring career trajec- tory than Quinta Brunson
in the last decade. Watching her journey from being a meme girl to an Internet star to a book author and now the showrunner and creator of Abbott Elementary has been remarkable. Her name being called in the Best Writing for a Comedy Series category was just the missing piece to mak- ing her an all-around success story. Her moment may have been overshadowed by Jimmy Kimmel laying on the ground as she accepted the award, but she remained as gracious as ever while giv- ing her speech.
Sheryl Lee Ralph did it. The actress, whose career spans decades, took home the trophy for Outstanding Sup- porting Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of kindergarten teacher Bar- bara Howard on Abbott El- ementary. As if the video of the moment she learned she was nominated wasn’t moti- vating enough, Ralph got on stage and gave one of the most mesmerizing and mov- ing acceptance speeches I’ve heard in a really long time.
DIRECTOR GINA PRINCE- BYTHEWOOD
2018's Black Panther.
The Woman King is about
strength and will, about inde- pendence and abolishing slav- ery, themes that Dana Stevens' screenplay an- nounces too bluntly at times. "We are the blade of freedom," Nanisca yells, inspiring her troops into one more battle. But Prince-Bythewood never lets social themes get in the way of crowd-pleasing ac- tion.
Davis, John Boyega and Lashana Lynch lead The Woman King's impressive cast, but the film's real star is its director, Gina Prince- Bythewood, who doesn't make a wrong move.
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