This is 1958. Virginia. Mildred Loving (Ruth Negga) and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) stand in a field of goldenrod full of hope. He’s bought an acre of this land. He’s a mason. He’s going to build her a house right here.
But he’s also a white man and she’s a ‘woman of color.’ So, they cross into D.C. for their marriage vows because God’s law says there’s a difference between a robin and a sparrow.
When Mildred’s swollen belly bears their first son, the Sheriff arrests them for exactly that, tosses them into jail, as a Judge rules that they have two choices: One is to spend 25 years behind bars, and the other is to leave the state of Virginia. Or in other words, if this were today, we’d call this judge a “Trump Supporter.”
So, the Lovings pack up and go, leaving their heart and soul and parents behind them, only to find that the heart wants what the heart wants. Who said “Virginia is for Lovers?”
The powerfully understated drama directed by Jeff Nichols is both minimalist and painfully slow. This imagery is most likely a deliberate match of the excruciating time it took to establish civil rights. Two plucked-out-of-college lawyers, Bernard Cohen and Phil Hirshkop (Nick Kroll and John Bass respectively) take on the case, raising it to the levels of the Supreme Court. Eventually (and in the late 60s some years later) it turns over the Jim Crow laws against mixed-racial marriages.
But the behind the scenes angst is historically documented in a poignant photo spread by a reporter (Michael Shannon) LIFE Magazine.
This is love in black and white. Though at times it’s hard to believe that this meat-and-potatoes guy who moves through the film mainly grunting, and might just as well be the local kid pumping gas, is this fiery and determined African-American woman’s choice. But he’s safe. He provides for her, and as he says in a very poignant moment, “I love my wife.”
Every Oscar season has its tiny gem. ‘Loving’ is this year’s ‘Brooklyn.’ 3 tiaras