I love that [Asante] has found a particular narrative that means something to her... But still, A UNITED KINGDOM is a disappointing effort from a promising director.

It honors this extraordinary couple's defiant and unwavering love for each other, but it doesn't celebrate it much beyond a cliched falling-in-love montage and a chaste wedding-night scene.

Screenwriter Guy Hibbert and Asante pull off a precision balancing act, illuminating the intensity of the love the couple shared and never once allowing their romance to take a back seat to the issues.

A welcome reminder that, even in the direst of situations and in the most impossible of times, love can indeed trump hate.