A United Kingdom movie review

I was looking forward to the showing of this movie ever since it came out but didn’t quite get the chance to see it. I was hence very delighted to see that it was one of the in-flight movies on my flight to Canada. I did not hesitate one minute to start the movie in fact it was the first one I chose and it sure did not disappoint. 

The movie was not just about interracial marriage in the age of the apartheid but was also about a king who had to disobey his reagent uncle, possibly go against his people to attain what he thinks is right and just. It is also about a working class woman who in the name of love decided to defy her parents, especially her father, leave her parents and sister behind and readjust her whole life in a country and continent she barely knows much about. 

As the story unfolds, it is found that not only was the king dragged out of his country to negotiate the status of it only to find he was “deemed unsuitable” to be king but also exiled from his home. Whilst he fights this exile he was promised by soon-to-be Prime Minister Churchill to be reunited. That promise was however broken upon Churchill’s inauguration.  

Amidst this chaos, it is also found that the queen is pregnant with a mixed racial baby. While she fights her “fellow English women” to go to South Africa to “seek medical help” (translate: abortion) she and her once estranged sister-in-law bond over womanhood and family. The queen soon after childbirth joins the tribe’s women to build the community and fight her husband’s political battle while they suffer a long distance marriage. 

I will leave no spoilers as to how the story ends, but I can promise you it was poetic and triumphant to the very end. I was dabbing my teary eyes scene after scene as they move from one obstacle to one victory. The speeches in the screenplay were eloquently written, the beauty of the country transcended by cinematography success, acting was not only convincing but inspirational and the original score moved every inch of my heart. An absolute 5 star film manic experience I highly recommend.