It is, essentially, a deeply sanitised version of the sombre truth about slavery and 19th-century Africa, replete with sweet and melodramatic nostalgia for an Afrocentric fantasy.

Julius Tennon, (star Viola) Davis’s husband and co-producer of The Woman King, has defended the movie’s substantial flaws, claiming: “It’s history but we have to take license. We have to entertain people.”

Throughout the industry’s history – as witnessed in The Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind – Hollywood directors and producers have largely refused to make films that depict slavery accurately.

Black is King, Black Panther and The Woman King demonstrate an obsessive and incessant determination to eschew reality and reinvent Africa’s past. It is time to respect the fact Africa has a rich, vibrant, and imperfect history.

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