By Hannah Quinque

“I wan­na move ’em back to the country.

I don’t care what they do to us.

I won’t raise my fam­i­ly here.”

The 2016 art­house film Lov­ing, direct­ed by Jeff Nichols, has already run one hour and nine min­utes before Mil­dred Lov­ing express­es her unwill­ing­ness to com­ply with the court sen­tence that for­bids the fam­i­ly to reside in their home state of Vir­ginia. Her deci­sion sets them on a path of no return. The route takes their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lov­ing v. Vir­ginia will pave the way toward freely mar­ry­ing, liv­ing, and lov­ing for inter­ra­cial cou­ples in the Unit­ed States (for cou­ples, which fit het­ero- and cis­nor­ma­tive stan­dards, that is.) At first glance, the desire to return to Vir­ginia might appear at odds with the vio­lent­ly hate­ful treat­ment Mil­dred and Richard Lov­ing expe­ri­enced at the hands of Vir­gin­ian author­i­ties amidst betray­al by one of their neigh­bors. At sec­ond glance, how­ev­er, the film shows that the Lov­ings’ love for their home and home state is as much a dri­ving force behind the strug­gle for equal rights as is their love for each other.

Mildred’s final deci­sion to return to Vir­ginia fol­lows after their child Don is hit by a car in the busy Wash­ing­ton neigh­bor­hood. One of the most action-dri­ven scenes in the oth­er­wise strik­ing­ly calm and qui­et movie, Don’s acci­dent serves as the final tip­ping point, ini­ti­at­ing the long jour­ney of the Lov­ing v. Vir­ginia court case.

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