IF YOU’RE one for a bit of nostalgia, then A United Kingdom is for you. This movie lovingly tells the love story of Seretse Khama, the king of Botswana and Ruth Williams, a London office worker who met and fell in love in 1947. It’s a movie based on true events.
Their marriage would later cause unease between the British and South African governments. I liked the pace of this movie.
It starts with the very intelligent king winning the heart of Ruth and how they fight the injustice on their people in Botswana.
Some may say the movie is a bit slow but I say, you have to watch the movie with an open mind. In a time when South Africa was introducing their policy of apartheid, the notion that Botswana, an African nation not far away, had a biracial couple leading it was intolerable. Thus their love had many political ramifications.
South Africa threatened the British to either stop the couple from being married or be denied access to South African uranium and gold and face the risk of South Africa invading Botswana which was a British protectorate.
Their interracial relationship become ensnared in global politics, both in Britain and in Khama’s homeland.
You could see the emotional turmoil faced by Seretse Khama and Ruth. Not only were they shunned by the high echeleons of British and South Africa but by their own families as well. Ruth’s father disowned her while Seretse’s tribal clan were angry at the union
Ruth had to overcome much hatred from her husband’s family but eventually her kindness and sense of justice won them over.
The movie seeks to score by casting David Oyelowo as Khama and Rosamund Pike, as Williams.
Williams is an ordinary woman who, under different circumstances, might have led a typical English life as a wife and mother. A United Kingdom tends to drift toward dullness without quite surrendering to it.
For the most part, the British come across as cruel imperialists (including an unseen Winston Churchill).
Tom Felton embodies the British attitude of entitled indifference to Khama’s pleas.
The African characters show the opposite side of the racial coin. Khama’s sister (Terry Pheto) resists accepting Williams for a long time, as does his aunt Ella (Abena Ayivor).
Vusi Kuene portrays Khama’s uncle — the man who raised him and who groomed him for royal ascendance. Kuene’s character cannot reconcile himself to his nephew’s marriage.
Not surprisingly, Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King in Selma, has a major uplifting speech toward the movie’s conclusion.
The story ends optimistically with Botswana abandoning monarchy in favour of democracy. Khama became the country’s first president.
