Amina, her sister Zaria, and the other powerful women in Izu Ojukwu's "Amina"

In Izu Ojukwu's "Amina" (2021), Lucy Aweh plays the sixteenth-century warrior princess Amina of Zazzau, who learns swordfighting as a child with her sister Zaria (Habiba Ummi Mohammed). Surrounded by intrigue, she ultimately assumes the throne of Zassau (as the first woman to do so). The two sisters are not the only strong women in the film: a cave-dwelling priestess (Jennifer Ezekiel Ade) not only predicts Amina's destiny at her birth but also drives her onward at key moments, while Aladi Ameh (Asabe Madaki), whom Amina and Zaria save from slavery when they are children, eventually gives the film's most riveting speech, summarizing the trail of deaths Amina leaves behind her. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 19 August 2022)