| African Queens | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Docudrama |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Jada Pinkett Smith |
| Music by | Michael 'Mikey' J Asante |
| Country of origin |
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| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jada Pinkett Smith |
| Cinematography | Sean Francis |
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Netflix |
| Release | February 15 (2023-02-15) – May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) |
African Queens is a 2023docudrama series focusing on female monarchs, airing on the streaming serviceNetflix. The series is produced and narrated byJada Pinkett Smith and features dramatized fictional re-enactments as well as interviews with experts. The first season coversNjinga, Queen ofNdongo and Matamba, and is directed by Ethosheia Hylton. The second season focuses on Queen of thePtolemaic Kingdom ofEgypt,PharaohCleopatra VII Philopator, and is directed byTina Gharavi.
The docudrama series combines dramatic recreations with interviews with historians and people from the modern-day regions that the Queen ruled over. ProducerJada Pinkett Smith cited a lack of stories covering Black queens as her inspiration for helming the series.[1] She said: "We don't often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them."[2]
For the first season, the life ofNjinga, Queen ofNdongo and Matamba, is explored.[3] Interviewees includeKellie Carter Jackson,Wellesley College associateprofessor in the Department ofAfricana Studies;Diambi Kabatusuila, the present-day traditional Queen of the Bakwa Luntu people inCentral Kasaï; and Rosa Cruz e Silva, the former director of theNational Archives ofAngola.[4][5]
The second season explores the reign ofCleopatra, queen of thePtolemaic Kingdom ofEgypt.[6]PostdoctorateBlack feminist andClassicistProfessor Shelley P. Haley was interviewed for the second season.[7]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | February 15, 2023 (2023-02-15) | ||
| 2 | 4 | May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) | ||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Death of a King" | Ethosheia Hylton | Peres Owino | February 15, 2023 (2023-02-15) | |
The life of Njinga prior to her accession, including her relationship with thePortuguese Empire's growing influence over her home. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Power is Not Given" | Ethosheia Hylton | Peres Owino | February 15, 2023 (2023-02-15) | |
Njinga's brother and king of Ndongo, Mbandi, dies, thrusting Njinga into a powerful position. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Blood Oath" | Ethosheia Hylton | Nnenne Iwuji | February 15, 2023 (2023-02-15) | |
Njinga must make sacrifices and deals in order to solidify her power, marrying anImbangala warlord Kasanje. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Legacy" | Ethosheia Hylton | Nnenne Iwuji | February 15, 2023 (2023-02-15) | |
Njinga negotiates with the Portuguese to recognize her kingdom as independent. | ||||||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 | "Rivals" | Tina Gharavi | Peres Owino | May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) | |
Cleopatra ascends the throne and her siblings vie for power asJulius Caesar meets her. | ||||||
| 6 | 2 | "When in Rome" | Tina Gharavi | Peres Owino | May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) | |
The birth ofCaesarion and assassination plots shape Cleopatra's reign and relationship with Rome. | ||||||
| 7 | 3 | "What Must Be Done" | Tina Gharavi | Nnenne Iwuji | May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) | |
Cleopatra forges a relationship with Ceasar's rivalMark Antony and Cleopatra participates in theBattle of Actium. | ||||||
| 8 | 4 | "The Last Pharaoh" | Tina Gharavi | Nnenne Iwuji | May 10, 2023 (2023-05-10) | |
Octavian and the Roman army target Egypt. Cleopatradies. | ||||||
The first season premiered on February 15, 2023.[3] The second season premiered on May 10, 2023.[6] With the release of each season, all episodes were released simultaneously onNetflix.
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 88% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.[8]Metacritic assignedAfrican Queens: Njinga a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9] Ellen E. Jones ofThe Guardian was critical of the first series, awarding it 2 out of 5 stars, saying that "This tale of a 17th-century African female ruler features impressive academics, but they're drowned out by poor-quality dramatic sequences. It lacks context, analysis or personality."[10] Angie Han ofThe Hollywood Reporter was also critical, saying that the format limited the ability to go deeply into the subject.[11]Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times, however, praised the first series and gave it three out of four stars, saying while the "jazzy score and sometimes melodramatic dialogue occasionally [interrupts] the moment[, the show] keeps us involved and heats up the often violence-soaked drama in subsequent episodes".[12] Luke Peppa of theFinancial Times exclaims that, as in Njinga, with greater exposure to stories featuring African histories and myths, one might "even be inspired to create their own Africa-centric stories, [having a] wealth of stories that are yet to be told."[13]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 18% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Queen Cleopatra may posit some fresh speculation about the ubiquitous monarch, but its glossy presentation errs more towards a superficial toga party than a substantive endeavor."[14]Metacritic assignedQueen Cleopatra a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15] Anita Singh ofThe Daily Telegraph gave it 2 out of 5 stars, saying, "It's too soapy for serious history fans, and not enough of a soap for viewers who like juicy historical dramas."[16]The Indian Express writer Rohan Naahar says that "you don't quite get an idea of who Cleopatra was as a person[...] She's projected, funnily enough, as a Beyonce-like figure." Naahar criticized theproduction design of the show, saying thatQueen Cleopatra "[didn't] feature a single archive photograph of the palaces in which she lived, or of her many sculptures, or even paintings of her most famous conquests — both geographical and romantic."[17]
Cleopatra was played byAdele James in the second season's dramatic reenactment scenes. James is an actress of mixed Jamaican and English ancestry, which caused controversy over the depiction ofCleopatra's race.[18]
The Egyptian government responded negatively to the casting decision.Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities stated that the series represented a "falsification ofEgyptian history."[2] The Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archeology through the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities released a statement on the issue, claiming that Queen Cleopatra was "light-skinned and (had) Hellenic features." They citedRoman andPtolemaic Greek coins,statues, and other depictions of Cleopatra as evidence, adding his complaint was "far from any ethnic racism."[19][20] Former antiquities minister and EgyptologistZahi Hawass was critical of the second season. He said, "This is completely fake. Cleopatra was aMacedonian Greek, meaning that she was light skinned, not black," adding that "Netflix is trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilisation is black."[21][22][18][23]
On May 9, 2023,CBS News interviewedMonica Hanna, an Egyptologist, who expressed her discontent with the film because "it is pushing an Afrocentric agenda ... imposing theidentity politics of the 21st century and appropriating the ancient Egyptian past, just as the Eurocentrists and thefar-right in Europe are doing".[24] She further added that ancient Egypt "was more of a culture than it was a race."[25]
On May 14, 2023, Sara Khorshid, adoctoral candidate atWestern University in Canada, criticized some responses to the media as "antiblack racism", but saying this "should not detract from legitimate criticisms of the show" as showing aWestern andOrientalist bias in its depiction of Egypt.[26]
On April 21, 2023, the director Gharavi defended the casting, stating, "Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress,"[21] but insisted that "what the historians can confirm is that it is more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor ever did."[27]
Islam Issa, a philosopher and the onlyEgyptian voice in the documentary, expressed disappointment in Gharavi's politicizing of the casting.[28]
Producers of the series stated that Cleopatra's ethnicity "is not the focus ofQueen Cleopatra, but we did intentionally decide to depict her of mixed ethnicity to reflect theories about Cleopatra's possible Egyptian ancestry and the multicultural nature of ancient Egypt."[29]
Adele James questioned the validity of the concept of "blackwashing" and expressed her disappointment with racial perceptions "that people are either so self-loathing or so threatened by Blackness that they feel the need to do that, to separate Egypt from the rest of the continent".[30][31]
