Loving

        Even as this film sat in my house, it took me a long time to watch it.  I thought it was going to be really sad, especially since it’s based on real events, and I was not up for sad at that time.  But the disc was due back at the library, and I knew I had to just sit down and watch it.  So, I did.  I found this film was not nearly as sad as I thought.

        All Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred Jeter (Ruth Negga) want to do is be together.  They are a young couple expecting a baby and they want to get married.  Because of their different races and the laws in Virginia, they go to Washington, D.C. to get married with Mildred’s father as their witness.  When they return to Virginia, Richard and Mildred expect to live a calm and peaceful life.

        The law has other ideas.

       One night, the police barge into the Jeter family home and arrest Richard and Mildred.  Because they are different races it is against the law for them to not only be married but also be in the same bed.  Both of them are put in jail for their “crime”. 

        As a white man, Richard gets out of jail pretty quickly.  He’s not allowed to bail out his non-white wife, though.  If he tries, they will throw him back into jail.  Mildred is forced to spend the weekend in jail, pregnant and in her nightgown.

        Once both of the Lovings are free, Richard finds a lawyer.  Unfortunately, the only deal the lawyer can get which lets the Lovings avoid more jail time is for them to leave Virginia.  They must also agree they will never enter the state of Virginia together again.

        With Richard needing the bricklaying job he has, but still wanting to be with his wife, they move in with one of Mildred’s relatives in Washington, D.C.  Richard now must commute to work, leaving Mildred in an unfamiliar city.  Washington, D.C. is drastically different from the rural life they came from, but this is what they must do in order to keep their family in one piece.

        Years and three children later, Mildred has had enough.  One of her sons was almost killed while playing in the street.  After this scare, Mildred decides it is time to go home to Virginia.  They find a house far from everyone else, living with the worry that one day they will be discovered.

        To get help with their situation, and in hopes they can one day live more openly, Mildred writes to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.  He refers Mildred’s letter to the ACLU and they contact a lawyer willing to help fight the Virginia law.  It is a fight that is taken all the way to the Supreme Court.

        To get support for their cause, the lawyers invite the media to hear the Lovings’ story.  Richard is not sure about bringing the media into his life, but he goes along with it because it is what Mildred wants.  Fame and attention are not what Richard cares about.  All he cares about is being with his wife.

         As I said, I expected this to be a really sad movie.  I thought it would be full of abuse and hatred from other people.  There is a little, but not at all what I thought there would be.  Instead, this film really stuck to being about the relationship between Richard and Mildred and all they had to do to stay living as husband and wife. 

        In the end, that was all that mattered to the Lovings.  Not what anyone said or thought.  What was important to them was that they were together.  Together and free to love.