Film: "A United Kingdom"
Prince of Botswana (David Oyelowo) falls for an English clerk (Rosamund Pike) in this singular true-life love story.
Director Amma Asante has a talent for ferreting out intriguing bits of history that have somehow been forgotten. Like her second film Belle, here again is a story about race and prejudice—and no less remarkable. In 1947 Seretse Khama, the Prince of Bechuanaland, fell in love with Ruth Williams—a fellow jazz lover and white English clerk. As Bechuanaland (now Botswana) was a British protectorate, their romance launched a veritable firestorm at home and abroad. Having banned interracial marriage under the apartheid system, South Africa could not afford to have an interracial couple ruling just across their northern border and the British government summarily exiled the couple in 1951. With gripping performances by David Oyelowo (Selma) and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), United is both a triumphant love story and a rousing call to justice. D: Amma Asante, US, 2017, 1h 51m
Part of the Dartmouth Film Society series Reel Change