Though it’s been largely overshadowed by Jeff Nichols’ poignant drama Loving hitherto, Amma Asante’s Brit period drama A United Kingdom is beginning to stage its marketing push ahead of a release in February 2017.
Much like Nichols’ picture before it, A United Kingdom chronicles the journey of an interracial couple – played here by David Oyelowo and Gone Girl‘s Rosamund Pike – fighting tooth and nail to shield their forbidden love during the formative years of apartheid in South Africa. Considered a taboo union by all those around them, here we see Oyelowo and Pike’s lovestruck characters clinging on to some semblance of humanity, even if that means turning their backs on the British empire.
Asante’s period piece features a script penned by Guy Hibbert, and though it appears to boast all of the necessary ingredients to become an awards favorite – the true-life romance, the historic context –  the critical consensus claims A United Kingdom will ultimately go down as an opportunity squandered.
Regardless, the official logline reveals that A United Kingdom tells the “true story of the forbidden love of King Seretse Khama of Botswana (David Oyelowo) and Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), a white woman from London, which caused an international uproar when they decided to marry in the late 1940’s just as apartheid was being introduced into South Africa. It was a decision that altered the course of African history.”
A United Kingdom opens on February 10, 2017. For more on Amma Asante’s Brit period drama ahead of release, have a gander at our official review from London Film Festival.
