The events portrayed in the film are
factual but not that well known in the UK. I personally knew little of this
story before watching the film but I do now. I do love a good education.
Khama (David Oyelowo) is over in London studying
while waiting to take over as leader in his own country. He inherited the rule
as a young boy but his uncle is ruling as regent until he is old enough to take
over.
It is while he is in London that he meets every
day young lass Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), the daughter of a salesman, at a church
dance that oddly seems only to attract black African men and white British
women. The Daily Mail would have had a field day.
He and Ruth hit it off, fall in love and
marry. All rather quickly. We've seen a couple of films with instance romances
recently.
Naturally this mixed race marriage is going
to raise a few eyebrows and being shunned by her father (Nicholas Lyndhurst)
turns out to be the least of their worries as she moves to Botswana with her
man, not quite knowing what she's getting herself into.
When they arrive in his homeland, his choice
of queen does not go down that well with the locals, with his uncle or indeed the
British government whose protectorate Botswana is currently under. They all refuse
to accept her and call for Khama to either give up his new bride or to give up
his country.
Khama then seems to win over his people
with his ‘I love my people’ speech but this does not work with the British
government who are in hoc to the South African government, who are in the
process of implementing their policy of apartheid. Naturally the prospect of a black
leader in a neighbouring country marrying a white woman does not sit well with
them.
The film takes us back and forth between a drab
post-war England and bright sunny Botswana as it documents the political
struggle that ensues. Prime Minister Clement Attlee exiles Khama from his own
country leaving his newly pregnant wife marooned there where she actually makes
a decent fist of being queen-elect and eventually wins over the people of
Botswana.
There is hope when Winston Churchill, the
leader of the Opposition, promises to reverse Attlee’s decision were he to win
the forthcoming General Election. However, when he does, he changes his mind
and takes an even harder line than Attlee did.
A solution comes in the form of diamonds.
When there are discovered in the territory they belong to the people under a
Protectorate but if they were a colony, as they British government wanted them
to be, they wouldn’t have.
This knowledge enables Karma to reconcile
with his uncle and they agree that he should he a renounced the throne allowing
him and his wife to return to the country as private citizens while setting the
country on a path to independence. Independence which is fulfilled in 1966 when
Karma himself becomes the first democratically elected president of the Botswana.
Their son is now the current President.
It’s a decent, if unspectacular film, which
seems to be at least accurate in the majority of its historical detail which is
rare these days. Well worth a look.
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