#52FilmsByWomen: A United Kingdom

In 2013, I went to the cinema and saw Amma Asante’s film Belle and was completely blown away. I was so touched by the film’s discourse about race relations in the United Kingdom and how they related to the issues surrounding racism today both in the U.K. and abroad. The film was beautifully written and directed, with a stellar cast and costume and production design that took my breath away. When I first saw the trailer for Asante’s A United Kingdom, I was ecstatic to see how it would fair with what became my favourite film of 2013.

Starring Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo, A United Kingdom tells the true story of Seretse Khama, a Botswanan (then Becheunaland) crown prince who married Ruth Williams, a White English woman, in the 1920’s. While Khama’s contemporaries feared that marrying a British woman signified to his people that he was forgiving British Colonial suppression, Williams’ family was appalled at that she would allow herself to fall in love with a Black man. The film follows this love story as the couple wed and move to Becheunaland, encountering numerous hurdles from both the Bamangwato people as well as British colonial forces in Southern Africa. The pair’s resilience and refusal to abandon their own morals in order to show a brighter, equal future is beautifully captured in Asante’s drama.

Although I have always deemed Oyelowo and Pike to be terrific actors, Asante is able to pull something incredibly visceral and honest out of her actors. The duo were able to cement a believable and truly heart-warming love story within the first ten minutes of the film which would later serve as the example of what is worth fighting for in a highly racist society. The film is beautifully cruel and melancholy while still being incredibly hopeful, a balance I witnessed also in Belle as well as American director Ava DuVernay’s (Selma; Middle of Nowhere) films (another female filmmaker I think shares many similar directorial choices with Asante). Although it represents a very specific period of history, A United Kingdom is incredibly applicable to the present racial situation in a post-Brexit U.K. and post-Trump USA.

via YouTube

Filmed between London and Botswana, the film is visually breathtaking, the bustling and cold metropolis of London contrasted with the warm, traditional openness of Botswana. The cinematography is stunning, alternating between conservative and intimate shots of London and the expansive and natural framing of Botswana. The score, by British composer Patrick Doyle (Thor; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), truly helps set the tone of the film, mixing Western musical traditions with Southern African instruments and voices. Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road; The King’s Speech) and Anushia Nieradzik’s (Belle; Hunger) costume design is, as always, superb and truly helps emphasise the visual difference between London and Botswana. Oyelowo and Pike are further  supported by an incredible cast including Jack Davenport, Tom Felton, and Laura Carmichael.

In researching this film, and this review, I witnessed an extraordinary amount of hate for the film’s supposed ‘propaganda’ of mixed relationships. I feel very thankful that Asante has dedicated herself to making films that are about Black figures throughout British history for a varied audience, helping to educate those whose privilege may blind them to the discrimination our society presses upon minorities and people of colour in their everyday lives. I was lucky to see the film at an advanced screening earlier in the week and the rest of the audience was predominantly White and middle-aged. The comments and ‘jokes’ that made me and the friend I saw the film with, who is my age, cringe and uncomfortable provoked chuckles from the audience. The jokes, provided by the White characters in the film, generally centred around British colonial interests in Southern Africa and, on occasion, the general nature of Seretse and Ruth’s relationship. I think it’s incredibly important that people of colour tell their stories and provoke thought and insight into a large viewership. I hope that Asante continues to create these beautifully cinematic and inherently political films so that I and others can learn to look past our privilege in order to try and understand the history of the world that surrounds us.

A United Kingom was released in U.K. cinemas on November 24th and is expected for release in the US on February 17th, 2017. Let me know below what you thought about the film and Asante’s work overall.