IT IS 1958 in Virginia and a black young woman tells her white boyfriend that she is pregnant with his child. The man, Richard Loving, tells the woman, Mildred, that he would build a house for her. He asks her to marry him.
She says yes. They have to drive out to Washington, D.C. to get married, however, because Virginia’s laws prevent inter-racial marriages.
They come back to their home state and begin their married life, but the beginning is not so blissful. Law enforcers barge into their bedroom one night and arrest them for violating state laws. Richard points to their marriage license, framed and hanging on the wall, but the sheriff tells him it is invalid and jails them both.
As part of a bargain, they admit guilt in violating the anti-miscegenation law. Instead of asking them to serve a one-year prison term, the judge tells them they should not return to Virginia, not together, for 25 years.
The couple lives in exile in Washington but return secretly to Virginia so Mildred can have her child delivered by Richard’s midwife mother. They are arrested again, saved only by the lawyer who tells the judge he mistakenly advised them they could return. They leave again.
But Virginia is home and even as the family grows—two more kids are born—the couple yearn to return to their roots. They see hope in the March on Washington where black people rallied for jobs and freedom. Mildred writes to Attorney General Robert Kennedy who refers them to the American Civil Liberties Union. A lawyer, Bernard Cohen, takes on the case, believing it has great potential not only of winning but also being landmark jurisprudence.
The state of Virginia argues that children of interracial marriages are bastards. The federal Supreme Court, however, agrees to hear the case. Increasingly, the case gains attention and support. Legal victory comes in 1967 when, through a decision now known as Loving vs. Virginia, the court invalidates state laws prohibiting inter-racial marriages.
★★★★★
It is perplexing that Loving is not among the nine films nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards, to be held Sunday night (Monday here) even as Ruth Negga, who plays Mildred, is in the running for Best Actress.
Then again, who needs external validation from award-giving bodies when all you really want to do is to tell a story that touches people’s hearts and makes them believe in goodness, justice, and love all over again?
The movie reminds us of our concept of home. “I don’t care what they do to us, I am going to raise my family here,” Mildred says.
Before they were driven out of Virginia, the couple had identified a place where they would build their modest house. It would not be grand, but it was near their respective families. It would witness the birth and growth of their kids and their dreams. They wished to return and fought to do so when they could have stayed in Washington and lived in peace.
It also gives us insight into the minds of simple folk.
The lawyers tried to convince the Lovings to attend the Supreme Court hearings, but Richard insisted he did not want to go and Mildred said she was not going anywhere without her husband. Richard did not see their case for more than what it was and, in fact, seemed to resent the attention they were getting from the press. To him, this was their life, their battle. He had no illusions that their case was something bigger than their situation or that they were representing something—even though it resonated across the US in those changing times.
Finally, it tells us that true love makes one fight, defy odds and endure tests.
Before going to the Supreme Court to argue the case, the lawyer asked Richard if he had a message for the justices. Richard did not launch into a big speech about equality or race or justice. He simply said: “Tell them that I love my wife.”
When the decision came out and the couple had to hold a press conference, they were not blinded by the camera lights or distracted by the incessant questions from reporters. They were too busy holding each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
After the 1967 decision, the Lovings were free to live in Virginia as they wished. Richard built the home he had promised Mildred. Alas, he died in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver, in 1975.
Mildred continued to live in that home. She never remarried. Interviewed shortly before her death in 2008, she said: “I miss him. He took care of me.”
There is no impassioned singing or cute tap dancing here. It’s a historical, racial, legal narration. Without a doubt, though, Loving is one of the most romantic movies I have seen in a long while.
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