''A United Kingdom'' is a 2016 biographical romantic drama film directed by Amma Asante and written by

Guy Hibbert Guy Hibbert is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has won four BAFTA TV awards, including Best Writer for the 2009 film ''Five Minutes of Heaven''. This film was premiered at the 25th Sundance Film Festival, where Hibbert won the World C ...

, based on the true-life romance of

Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal fa ...

, heir to the throne of the Bangwato Tribe in

Serowe Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's history, as capital for the Bama ...

– one of many tribes found in then

Bechuanaland Protectorate The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) in Southern Africa. It became the Republic ...

–, with his wife Ruth Williams Khama.

David Oyelowo David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

and Rosamund Pike portray Seretse and Ruth, respectively. It was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was the opening film at the 60th

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

Plot

The film is based on the true story of the heir to the throne of Bechuanaland,

of the Bamangwato people, who studied law in London immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There he meets an Englishwoman, Ruth Williams, whom he eventually marries, despite the protests of both their families and opposition from the British government, which is concerned about relations with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and the stability of the entire region of southern Africa. The National Party government in South Africa fears that the marriage of a black king to a white woman in neighboring Bechuanaland will inspire unrest, as it was in the process of making such a marriage illegal, and demands that the British government prevents the marriage, as do the governments of South West Africa and Rhodesia. Khama's uncle, the Regent, also asks Khama to end his marriage and instead marry a Bamangwato princess, which Khama rejects. The British administrators use the dispute to argue that the marriage is causing unrest. Seretse discovers that the British have allowed a US mining corporation to prospect for precious stones, and is eager to make sure that, if anything is found, the exploitation of the country's resources should solely be done by the people of Bechuanaland. Khama wants his people's support and wins their backing, upon which the British government decides to exile him. Meanwhile, Ruth gives birth to their baby and becomes accepted by the local people by "walking the road with them". When the British want to replace the king with an administrator, the tribe refuses to convene the necessary meeting. The British prime minister, Clement Attlee, tells backbencher Tony Benn that Britain needs South Africa's gold and destroying the Khamas' marriage is a price worth paying. Meanwhile, diamonds are found in Bechuanaland and Khama ensures the British government acknowledges their sovereign ownership by the Bechuana people.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

promises, if elected, to lift Khama's exile term of five years, but instead makes it permanent. However, powerful people in London and the US government support Khama's case. Meanwhile,

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

develops in South Africa and begins to overshadow Bechuanaland as well. Eventually, with the help of pressure from local people, he is allowed to return to Bechuanaland and negotiates its

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

from the British. Khama shows his uncle a leaked British government document showing he is qualified to be king, and that British government hostility is based only on opposition from South Africa. A postscript reveals that Khama was elected as the first president of present-day

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

, that

their son ''Their Son'' (also known as ''Sensation im Wintergarten'') is a 1929 silent film directed by Gennaro Righelli. Synopsis The son of the Countess Mensdorf runs away when he can no longer stand her relationship with the Baron Von Mallock. The son ...

becomes the country's fourth elected president in 2008 and that Ruth and Khama are buried together on a hilltop overlooking

village, where they had lived for the remainder of their lives.

Cast

as Sir Seretse Khama * Rosamund Pike as Ruth Williams Khama *

Terry Pheto Moitheri Pheto (born 11 May 1981) is a South African actress who is known for starring in an Oscar-winning film '' Tsotsi'' (2005) and other South African soapies. She had a recurring role of a heart surgeon, Dr. Malaika Maponya, on the Americ ...

as Naledi Khama, Seretse's younger sister * Vusi Kunene as

Tshekedi Khama Tshekedi Khama (17 September 1905 – 10 June 1959) was the regent-king of the Bamangwato tribe in 1926 after the death of Sekgoma II. Background Tshekedi Khama was born in Serowe, the son of Khama III, known as Khama the Great, by his fourth w ...

, Seretse's uncle, who is Regent of the Bangwato Kingdom * Abena Ayivor as Ella Khama, Tshekedi's wife and Seretse's aunt * Anton Lesser as Clement Attlee,

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

* Jack Davenport as Alistair Canning, the British government representative in Southern Africa * Jack Lowden as Tony Benn * Nicholas Rowe as Fenner Brockway * Tom Felton as Rufus Lancaster * Charlotte Hope as Olivia Lancaster * Nicholas Lyndhurst as George Williams, Ruth's father *

Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...

as Dot Williams, Ruth's mother * Laura Carmichael as Muriel Williams-Sanderson, Ruth's sister * Jessica Oyelowo as Lady Lilly Canning

Production

Pike joined the cast in May 2015, with Asante joining shortly afterwards. In September 2015, Asante revealed that shooting would be split between

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and that it would begin in October in preparation for a 2016 release coinciding with the 50th anniversary of independence in Botswana. In October 2015, Jack Davenport and Tom Felton joined the cast. In November 2015, some filming took place around Hyde Park/ Kensington Gardens including Imperial College Union. The cinematographer was Sam McCurdy and the

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

was

Simon Bowles Simon Bowles is a British feature film production designer. Bowles has worked with directors Armando Iannucci, Amma Asante, Oliver Parker, Roger Michell, Edgar Wright and Neil Marshall. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Career ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2016. It will also screen at the BFI London Film Festival on 6 October 2016. Shortly after, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2016. It was scheduled to be released in the United States on 17 February 2017, but was pushed up to 10 February.

Box office

''A United Kingdom'' grossed $3,902,185 in the United States and Canada and $10,557,145 in other countries for a worldwide total of $14,459,330, against a production budget of $14,000,000.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 164 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted, solidly crafted, and all-around worthy, ''A United Kingdom'' presents an absorbing look at a singular true-life love story." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Glen Kenny, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', described the filmmaking as "staid" but with "an acute sense of pace". He was complimentary about the performances and described Oyelowo's as "remarkable, genuinely riveting work". In ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

'', Tom Huddleston wrote that "David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike are strong in this compelling and moving, if basic, true-life tale" but that the film "is just a little too cosy and sentimental for its own good."

References

External links

* *
''A United Kingdom''
on The Plus Paper
A United Kingdom vs True Story of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams
at HistoryvsHollywood {{DEFAULTSORT:United Kingdom 2016 biographical drama films 2010s historical romance films 2016 romantic drama films 2016 films American biographical drama films American historical romance films American romantic drama films BBC Film films Biographical films about presidents Biographical films about royalty Black British cinema Botswana films British biographical drama films British historical romance films British romantic drama films Films about interracial romance Films about race and ethnicity Films about racism Films scored by Patrick Doyle Films set in 1948 Films set in Botswana Films set in London Films set in the 1950s Films shot in Botswana Films shot in London History of Botswana Pathé films Tswana-language films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films