The main thoughts I got from the movie Loving within the first half an hour is how differing ideas can lead to what seem like unnecessary frustration and suffering.  Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a black woman, drive out of Virginia and get married, since their marriage would be illegal in their home state, and then return to live with their families and assume their new lives with a marriage certificate.  Though when they return, they are still jailed and their matrimony is viewed as illegitimate, as their local sheriff arrests and separates both of  them.  His explanation for the separation is that people of different races were placed in different locations of the Earth, which he viewed as God’s intent for them to not marry and produce offspring together.  And this was the written explanation for the court ruling their marriage illegal.  Despite the work both groom and bride put into starting a new life together and finding a legal loophole, they were still ultimately required to leave the state, which they did together.

The film then shows their life once they’ve moved in such a way that made me appreciate it more as a story about a real relationship and not just about legal injustice.  As the couple raises their children, it is especially clear that Mildred is not happy so far removed from her family back in Virginia.  The burden of loneliness seems to strike her everyday as her husband is constantly working.  While this problem does seem like it would be fixed were they still living in Virginia, and is partially fixed once they move back, seeing the characters deal with stress from their new lives in a new location made them appear even more human on screen.

Even closer to the end of the film, there is still friction between the two in how they deal with the publicity that comes along with their legal case making it to the Supreme Court.  Instead of focusing the entire movie on solely courts, judges, and decisions, the movie’s creators seemed to show multiple sources of conflict that portrayed the relationship and struggles between Richard and Mildred Loving as organic and definitely made for an emotional two hours.