Mr. & Mrs. Loving

It´s Not What You Lose...It´s What You´re Able To Hold On To.

In Central Point, Virginia, a sleepy rural town where blacks and whites have long lived in harmony, Richard Loving (Timothy Hutton), a poor white laborer, falls in love with Bean Jeter (Lela Rochon), a young black woman. Mixed-race relationships are accepted here, but marriage, in 1960, is illegal under a miscegenation law dating from slave times.

Bean becomes pregnant, and despite their families´ fears Richard insists on marrying her. They are wed in Washington, D.C., then return to Central Point, where Bean´s family gathers friends for a quiet party. That night the sheriff invades their bedroom to arrest the couple. A court convicts the Lovings, and they are given a choice: three years in jail or a 25-year banishment from the state. With a baby on the way, the Lovings choose freedom and move to a squalid flat in the poorest neighborhood of Washington.

Richard, unable to get work, returns often to Central Point. Life for Bean is bleak and lonely. She finds a friend in Blue (Isaiah Washington), who excites her with talk of the Civil Rights movement. Sophia (Ruby Dee), the neighborhood sage, helps the shy country girl get acquainted.

Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.´s speeches during the March on Washington in 1963, Bean writes Attorney General Robert Kennedy, asking his help in changing the law so she and Richard can go home. Her letter reaches young ACLU attorney, Bernie Cohen (Cory Parker), who sees an opportunity for social justice in this landmark cause.

Seven years after their banishment, he pleads the Lovings´ case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Their conviction is thrown out and the Virginia law declared unconstitutional. The ruling struck down similar laws in 17 other states, ending forever the ban on interracial marriage.

Back in Central Point, the Lovings are able to celebrate together over lunch in a restaurant next to the courthouse where their battle against prejudice began.

Upplagd i sortimentet: 11 Maj, 2007