CAPSULE: A United Kingdom (2016, Dir. Amma Asante)

Some stories lend themselves to very traditional film making. Done well, handsome cinematography, bold acting and a consciously moral screenplay is sometimes the best way to do justice to an important historical story. This is how Amma Asante has come at A United Kingdom, her record of the political and marital triumph of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams – a union that both promised and threatened the stability of the whole of Southern Africa.

The enormity of this mixed-race love dawns beautifully thought the central performances of David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. Across their jazz-fuelled in London and the dusty kgotlas of Bechuanaland (where Khama is a contested ruler), the two inhabit a singular bond, which only strengthens as they come to understand that entire nations are invested in its destruction.

Guy Hibbert’s screenplay, too, though seldom remarkable, does exceptionally well in conflating the Khamas’ relationship with the overarching geopolitical context without overplaying its clearly evident importance. The external pressures of the burgeoning Cold War and the closer to home rise of Apartheid, as well as the impact of mineral resources ownership under the shadow of the retracting British Empire, are handled with confidence.

Asante’s hand is sure and her handling of the intersection of race and gender is nuanced, often in quite subversive ways, further cementing A United Kingdom as one of this year’s worthier films. All that said, traditional film making, no matter how solid, doesn’t pull in the plaudits like it once did. “Old-fashioned” draws respect but seldom open praise. This is a well-made film of an important and still-relevant piece of global history.

That such change can be predicated on the force of one couple’s love should most definitely be celebrated in our darkening times. This film that should be seen widely for that reminder alone.

★★★☆

Trailer: