An entire platoon then appears behind her. Suddenly a menacing Viola Davis playing Nanisca, the world-weary Agojie general, emerges from the grass armed with a machete.

They hear rustling in the tallgrass they see a flock of birds fly away on a breeze. The film begins with flair: A group of men lounge at the center of a field by a campfire. It’s a towering task approached by Prince-Bythewood and screenwriter Dana Stevens with gentle sensitivity, and a fierce desire to show Black women as the charters of their own destiny. You might wonder how Prince-Bythewood can shape a tale centering the Agojie warriors-an all-woman group of soldiers sworn to honor and sisterhood-hailing from the West African kingdom of Dahomey, when one considers their hand in perpetuating the transatlantic slave trade.

Especially in a cinematic landscape that prizes broad statements on race over sturdy storytelling. In going into “The Woman King,” a big-hearted action-epic whose major challenge is being sincere and historical while fulfilling its blockbuster requirements, you might feel some hesitation.

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