Enlightening story of Africa’s warrior women
Celebrity travelogues are hardly an underpopulated genre on our screens, but Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong’o (Channel 4) at least offered something fresh and enlightening. Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, having learned that her character Nakia in Marvel blockbuster Black Panther was inspired by historical figures, journeyed across Benin in West Africa to uncover the true story of the Agoji – a 4,000-strong female army which guarded the former kingdom of Dahomey for three centuries. It would prove a searing story with a twist in the tail.
Fetishised by Europeans as exotic “amazons”, these fearsome warrior women fought off colonists until a crushing defeat by the French in 1892. The army was disbanded and its soldiers died out, their memory kept alive by oral tradition and folk art.
Nyong’o began by paying her respects to the current king, whose princesses performed a war dance. Awestruck, she noted how the monarch’s throne was mounted on the skulls of four vanquished foes. She explored the network of tunnels used to surprise enemies, evidence of their expert guerrilla tactics. With the descendants of one legendary fighter, she witnessed a voodoo ceremony to invoke her warrior spirit.
She even met an elderly woman who trained with the Agoji in childhood. Outwardly frail and meek, she exploded with energy when belting out battle songs. “That was so dope,” grinned Nyong’o. “A precious, precious moment.”
However, this was no rose-tinted account. “These women weren’t beacons of enlightened feminism like in Black Panther,” Nyong’o admitted. They were conscripted, often at the behest of their husbands if they were unfaithful or overly stubborn, then subjected to a brutal training regime.
It was shot with shimmering beauty and Nyong’o was engaging company: reverential to her hosts but with easy charm and a ready laugh. She fast formed a bond with the local guides, which made it all the more affecting when she learned of the Agoji’s role in the slave trade and its painful impact on their families. Nyong’o wept with them and marvelled at their capacity for forgiveness. Powerful emotions were stirred by this neglected slice of history.
Strictly Birds Dancing, anyone? Dancing with the Birds (Netflix) saw handsome males busting their best moves, while female
“judges” watched with beady eyes. If the choreography scored highly, a showmance might ensue. Happily, these ones wouldn’t be described as a “curse”, break up any marriages or attract lurid tabloid headlines.
From the team behind Netflix’s Our Planet, this 50-minute film followed Birds-of-paradise as they staged endearingly elaborate courtship displays to attract mates.
In the jungles of New Guinea, the King of Saxony (a bird, not an athletic monarch) swung seductively on a vine and waved his huge head feathers like an avian version of Rapunzel’s hair. A black sicklebill proudly puffed out his plumage, while a twelve-wired bird of paradise wiggled his rump to flick his amour’s face. Ooh, you big tease.
Size was everything for Macgregor’s bowerbird, whose metre-tall tower was a seven-year labour of love, decorated with baubles and dried flowers to appear extra festive. When a bush pig tried to vandalise it, the bird did an uncanny impression of a barking dog to scare it away – before running through his full mimicry repertoire, which included remarkable approximations of villagers talking and children playing.
A flame bowerbird winked at a female while striking matador poses. In Guyana, a posse of hi-vis orange cock-of-the-rocks staged a display that resembled a feathered stag party.
It was ravishingly photographed, with citrus-coloured birds zinging against the lush forest greens. Stephen Fry narrated in velveteen tones, occasionally chucking in yoofspeak with references to “bling” and “guns” (meaning muscles rather than weaponry).
The anthropomorphic commentary, jaunty music and on-screen chapter headings verged on whimsical, but it was impossible to resist the charms of these romantic raptors. In a rousing climactic sequence, a Carola’s parotia performed his painstakingly rehearsed, nine-phase dance. If the female had a Glitterball trophy, she would surely have awarded it. Instead, a spot of mating sufficed.
Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong’o ★★★
Dancing with the Birds ★★★★