Loving

Loving is a film from a promising Independent film director, Jeff Nichols.  He has seen success with such films as Take Shelter, Mud, and Midnight Special.  His latest film is getting some serious Oscar buzz and could get Nichols his first nomination.  The films stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, who are both getting Oscar buzz of their own.  The film centers on the true story of the interracial couple whose legal fight to have their marriage recognized in their home state led to the pivotal supreme court decision of Loving V. Virginia.

Richard Loving was a young white man who grew up in a largely black community in Virginia in the 50s.  He fell in love with Mildred and refused to let the world tell him who he could love.  He proposed on the land he just purchased to build their home on and they drove up to DC to get married there.  Mildred was pregnant, but that didn’t stop the police from pulling them out of bed a few weeks later and putting them both in jail.

That crime carried a one year prison sentence, but in lieu of that the judge gave them the very generous choice to either dissolve their marriage or leave the state and all their family and friends for twenty-five years.  They chose to leave and went to DC to live with some friends.  Mildred hated the city and didn’t want to have the baby away from her family, so they returned home, only to be arrested again shortly after the birth of their son.

Their lawyer got them off on a technicality and warned them not to return as that wouldn’t work a second time.  They moved to DC and had 2 more children and spent a number of years there.  Mildred was never happy in DC as she hated that her children had no grass to run around on.  She was inspired by the civil rights movement to right a letter to Bobby Kennedy explaining her situation.  That led to a call from an ACLU lawyer offering to take on their case.

He told them he would investigate all options and get back to them.  In the meantime, Mildred had enough of the city and worked with a friend of there’s a rent a home in a remote part of Virginia where they would be left alone.  The ACLU lawyers encouraged them to accept interviews and requests for photographs as a way to put the case in the public eye.  Richard hated the attention, but Mildred just wanted to be free to live with her husband, so they both agreed to the publicity.  The case was won by unanimous decision and allowed for interracial marriage not only in Virginia, but in the seventeen other states that still had it outlawed.

The actors in this film play their roles very well.  The characters are just simple country people that wanted to live their lives without trouble.  They were forced into becoming activists and seemed to do so reluctantly, at least on Richard’s part.  The performances while subtle seem to capture the personalities of the real life people they are representing.  

It’s a fascinating story and it kept me engaged, but it did feel like it lacked a sense of urgency.  There were moments where the films tried to show just how much was on the line for them, but those moments fell a little flat.  It felt like we were simply watching them live their life instead of following their struggles to fight for equality.  It was a more passive film than I would have expected for the subject that it covers.  I still think it is a fine film, but it lacks the purpose to make me ever want to revisit it.  All in all I’d recommend this film if civil rights is a passion of yours or if you’re a cinephile that wants to watch as many of the oscar films as you can.  This seems like a likely nominee at this point, but it’s still early so that can certainly change.

Rating 7/10