An Intimate Look at What it Means to Mourn

Review: Black Panther Wakanda Forever (2022)

By Sara Ciplickas

In August 2020, actor Chadwick Boseman tragically lost his secret battle to cancer. Along with leaving behind a legacy of unforgettable work in film and theater, Boseman left Marvel’s Black Panther franchise with an uncertain future. Returning to direct the sequel, Ryan Coogler gifted its audience Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which gave an up close look at what it means to mourn and another triumph in diverse superhero filmmaking.

We are thrust into a Wakandan lab with Shuri (Letitia Wright), King T’Challa’s (Boseman) sister, trying to save the king from an off-screen illness. Unfortunately, the King loses his battle, as he did in 2020, and we are invited to attend a beautiful funeral for the Black Panther. Thus, the film picks up with Shuri and her mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), trying to keep themselves and their country strong in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. The safety of their country, and the world, is threatened when a meso-American demi-god (Tenoch Huerta) reveals himself and a long-lost nation.

While the opening and closing sequence of the film were enough for me to need tissues, the rest of the two-hour and forty-one minute film lacked some cohesiveness, explanation, and development. At times, this felt like just another superhero film where the plot became predictable and the film was nothing more than a CGI spectacle. However, this addition to the Marvel Universe proved to be one of the most diverse films in its long history of the multiverse.

Similar to its predecessor, Black Panther (2018), Wakanda Forever gave a beautiful glimpse at the diversity of African culture. There are stunning sequences of dance and the costume design exemplifies various tribal histories as well as contemporary fashion. Black women lead this film: Shuri, Ramonda, Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o). We were able to see amazing black female representation in so many different capacities. We saw the capability of black women as scientists, queens, mothers, warriors, and mourners. The performances in this film were beautifully vulnerable and balanced with bad-ass sequences of women kicking ass and taking care of business.

I was pleasantly surprised that the antagonists of this film, including Namor (Huerta), were representatives of ancient meso-American cultures such as the Mayans and Aztecs. Alongside the representation of various African cultures, we were able to see often forgotten meso-American culture including paintings, jewelry, costumes, and even sports. I very rarely see representations of meso-American people and culture. Even less frequently do I see films honestly address how poorly they were treated when Europeans arrived in the Americas.

While the film was first and foremost a touching tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, the film touched on a lot of subjects including imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and the exploitation of resources. While the plot was a bit shaky, the themes in this film were much more mature than some of the previous Marvel installments. It was a breath of fresh air. There was honesty in the evil of countries and governments, honesty in the anger exploited people and cultures have, and honesty about how people deal with that anger. Marvel is obviously not going away for a very long time, so I would like to see these themes, and other mature themes, explored more. They may be key in having more difficult conversations.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever creates an excellent space for private and communal mourning for King T’Challa and Boseman himself. In this stunning tribute, Marvel allows for Shuri, the Queen, and Wakanda to feel all the emotions someone is subject to when they lose a loved one. Additionally, this film demands attention to the exploitation and colonization of indigenous cultures in the African and American continents. We are invited to sit, sometimes in complete silence, with the actors to reflect. It’s very different form the predictable spectacles of superhero cinema, and it’s one superhero film you all need to see.