A United Kingdom is the latest from director Amma Asante, who directed Belle. It stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike as Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana and Ruth Williams, his white English wife.
A United Kingdom premiers at film festivals in September. No release dates to theaters in the US have been announced yet. A November release has been announced for the UK.
The film tells “the true story of Seretse Khama, King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1947 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments. Seretse and Ruth defied family, apartheid and empire – their love triumphed over every obstacle flung in their path and in so doing they transformed their nation and inspired the world.”
With an excellent cast, a brilliant director, and an inspiring story, this film promises to be outstanding.
The film was written by Guy Hibbert. For the Alexander McCall Smith fans (me), bits and pieces of this story are told in his best selling Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.
According to Entertainment Weekly, David Oyelowo discovered the story in 2010 when he read Susan Williams’ book Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation
I was so struck by the level of challenge they faced simply for falling in love with each other that I became completely intoxicated with it. I also realized in reading the story I had never seen an African love story of this cinematic scope. It spoke to me as an African, as a man, as a romantic. . . Botswana is a different country for the fact that these two people got married. It has a different relationship to race, partly because of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTr17zBahxY
A very inspiring story about two brave people. This is a movie I will make every effort to see!