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Film A United Kingdom

Shale

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
Messages
85
A United Kingdom
Movie Blurb by Shale
March 10, 2017

This was not my listed movie to see this week. It was supposed to be Kong: Skull Island, but having seen the trailers I was wondering if I wanted to see another fantasy monster movie. So, I started looking thru the less known movies and opened a Fandango synopsis of this one.

Synopsis
Dramatization of the real-life romance between white Londoner Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) and African law student Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), who began their love affair in 1947 when Williams was unaware that Khama was the heir apparent to the throne of the Bamangwato tribe of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (modern-day Botswana). After deciding to marry, the couple return to Africa so he can assume his royal duties, but their interracial marriage faces opposition from both Khama's family and neighboring South Africa, whose apartheid government leans on Britain to break up their union. ~ Violet LeVoit, Rovi

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Wow, another notorious love story like the Lovings from the blatant apartheid days of Africa and the United States. So, I had to see this and was glad I did. Not only did I learn something for the first time today but the portrayals were great and of course I could feel the injustices of the institutional racism of the white powers of the day.

Seretse Khama & Ruth Williams
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Just as the movies depicting the U.S. racism, (Loving & Selma) this one angered me with the attitudes of the British colonial exploitation and trying to appease the apartheid government of South Africa by blocking a royal interracial marriage that they found offensive.

Colonial Exploiters
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It also hit home personally with the initial family objections in both England and Africa. But as history tells, Ruth was finally accepted by Seretse's sister, Naledi Khama (Terry Pheto) and eventually has their first child in Botswana and is accepted by the ppl as one of them.

Royal Sister-in-Law & Ruth with Baby
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This movie is a half-year old, first released in September 2016 and finally made its release date here last month. It has been well received by the aggregate critics on Rotten Tomatoes with 84% Fresh and 82% of audiences liked it. Their consensus, "Well-acted, solidly crafted, and all-around worthy, A United Kingdom presents an absorbing look at a singular true-life love story." IDK why it did not get an Oscar nod - other than the Academy is more politically motivated than truly acknowledging good art. (Yes, I saw Moonlight. I liked this movie better)
 
At the end of the movie as in the movie Loving, they ran down the complete bio info of the characters and showed the pictures of the actual ppl.

Sir Seretse Khama, President of Botswwana and Lady Khama (second right), pose with the Queen and Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace, where the President and his wife lunched with the Queen

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Sir Seretse Khama with his English wife Ruth, and their two children Jacqueline and Seretse Jr in September 1956

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Good review. Saw this yesterday. I read a couple wonky negative reviews beforehand that, having seen it now, clearly didn't have a clue. Overall it was enjoyable to watch and reasonably faithful to the real story.

Anyone interested in an African 'success story' would do well to read about Seretse Khama, who laid the foundations to turn Botswana from one of the poorest nations on earth into Africa's most stable and least corrupt democracy, and also the world's fastest growing economy since 1966 (faster than China even).
 
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I had the good fortune of seeing this movie with a Botswana national that happened to be visiting the friend I was seeing the movie with. I asked him how accurate he thought it was. He said he found it quite accurate but did tell me that sadly, both Seretse and Ruth had suffered from alcohol addiction later in life as did their elder daughter.
 
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