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Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo are a love match in underwhelming A United Kingdom |
Director: Amma Asante
Cast: David Oyelowo (Seretse Khama), Rosamund Pike (Ruth
Williams Khama), Terry Pheto (Naledi Khama), Vusi Kunens (Tshekedi Khama), Jack
Davenport (Alistair Canning), Laura Carmichael (Muriel Williams-Sanderson),
Jack Lowden (Tony Benn), Tom Felton (Rufus Lancaster), Charlotte Hope (Olivia
Lancaster), Nicholas Lyndhurst (George Williams), Anastasia Hille (Dot
Williams)

Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), heir to the throne of the
Bamangwato tribe in what will become Botswana, is studying law in England in
the late 1940s to prepare for his reign. He meets and falls in love with London
girl Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) – and despite the protests of their families
and their nations, they marry and resolve to build a life in his country
working for the betterment of his people. But first they must overcome what
seem insurmountable obstacles.
A United Kingdom
is a very well-meaning film. It has an important story to tell about acceptance
and prejudice. Many of the points it makes about the negative reactions to
mixed race marriages and colonial politics are still painfully relevant today.
It’s an earnest and good-hearted film. It’s just a real shame that it’s also
not that special.
It’s well acted by the two leads, we can give it that. Sure
they are presented as almost flawless individuals, but David Oyelowo and
Rosamund Pike are engaging performers and give a lot of emotional weight to the
story. Their courtship is sweetly hesitant and their relationship feels real
and lived in. Oyelowo brings much of the magnetic charisma he has shown in a
wide range of films to the part, and Pike’s neat mixture of prim Englishness, decency
and stubborn self-determination work really well.
But the story it so simply done, the whole thing feels like
a TV movie of the week. The film is flatly directed and conventionally shot:
London is always dark, filmed through a blue lens, with rainwater or fog
dripping off every shot. Africa by contrast is a vibrant, orange lensed place
where every sunset and sunrise looks like a painting. Very few shots show much
more imagination than that. There is no flair or originality to the
cinematography, the composition of the shots, or even the musical score (which swells
up stirringly at emotional moments and then fades instantly from memory). On
every technical level, it can boast nothing more impressive than workman-like
competence.
The narrative is equally simplistic: our heroes fall in
love, deal with rejection, passionate speeches are made, allies are slowly won
over and a deus ex machina finally
makes everything fine. The stakes of what Seretse is putting at risk through
his marriage are never made completely clear, despite all the talk of digging
and diamonds. The final resolution of the entire problem is so simplified,
contrived and rushed I almost had to double check the runtime to see if I
missed anything. It’s all part of the same simplification in the story that
sees sides change with confusing speed – Seretse’s sister goes from rejecting Ruth
to treating her like a sister in a blink; Ruth’s father (distractingly played
by Nicholas Lyndhurst, forever Rodney) is given one moment in a cinema to
switch from prejudiced British working man to repentant father.
The characters themselves are very plainly drawn: they are
either goodies or baddies with no attempt made to look at the deeper feelings
or motivations behind them. For instance, Seretse’s uncle is shown as simply
outraged by the marriage, with no attempt to explore why a marriage like this
may not have been seen as ideal in a fragile community, or how it might have
made holding a deal with the UK together difficult. Similarly, the Brit
characters are almost to a man mustachio twirlers or bitchy mem-sahibs,
callously sipping sherry as they thwart Seretse and Ruth’s plans. (Spare a
thought for poor Tom Felton, yet again hired to play Draco Malfoy In A
Different Historical Costume.) Even
Clement Attlee (so regularly beautified as the Prime Minister who oversaw the creation
of the Welfare State and NHS) is portrayed here as a cold-hearted architect of realpolitik.
By making its lead characters so saintly and pure, and
anyone who disagrees with them so cruel and sunk in villainy, the film weakens
itself. Yes it has a sweet relationship at the middle, but it also manages to
make this feel slightly lightweight, because the film itself is so flimsy. When
their opponents are such cartoonish baddies, and their aims for their country
so unclearly explained, it minimises the impact of the story. Instead of
showing us the birth of a modern, democratic nation through the focal point of one
couple’s struggle against prejudice and adversity, it makes both personal and
national triumphs feel actually less impressive
than they were – no more than a Sunday afternoon, Mills & Boon tale of a
working class London girl and a handsome, “exotic” stranger.
A United Kingdom
is an important story that has made itself into a slight one, a conventionally
filmed and simplistically told tale that never carries the weight and impact it
should do. Despite good performances from the leads, it’s really nothing
special.
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