Film: A United Kingdom

The second of three true stories I’ve seen depicted for my cinematic pleasure in the space of a week. (I’ve been catching up after a month away from my Cineworld card in Canada).This episode in history has eluded me, although watching the recent #BlackandBritish season on the BBC, sadly a lot of the black past appears to be missing in the mainstream. The true story of the heir to the throne (David Oyelowo - obvs) of a poor Bechuanaland (what became Botswana – didn’t know that either) in London to study. He falls in love, with, of all people, a pale blond daughter of a working man (Nicholas Lyndhurst playing a grandfather. Took me a while to get past that).Despite the union not being accepted by either family/society/country, they get married and travel to Africa. Only then do we discover it’s not pure racism/snobbery that is against them, but politics.It’s hard to imagine a time when the UK supported apartheid-ridden South Africa. But then it isn’t. The UK still has allies in countries with less than satisfactory human rights policy (I’m talking to you Saudi) that benefit both nations financially, unfortunately.A United Kingdom is an excellent portrayal, despite me wanting to shout to the new Mrs Queen (Rosamund Pike) 'dye your hair, cover it up, blend in' and show willing in the way that Jemima Goldsmith was when she was Jemima Khan and living in Pakistan.It turns out the real wife was indeed, a brunette. Oh Hollywood.8/10