TV REVIEW : Race an Issue in Wartime ‘Affair’

Set against today’s heightened sense of racial divide, the irony in tonight’s HBO movie, “The Affair,” a World War II-era drama about a tragic interracial liaison, is inescapable.

In this “inspired by true events” saga, a black G.I. stationed in a small British town suffers injustice and betrayal, paying the ultimate price for his love affair with an unhappily married white woman.

What transpires is both obvious and predictable; Billie Holiday singing Lewis Allen’s haunting “Strange Fruit” figures prominently. But, powered by strong performances--led by Courtney B. Vance (“Six Degrees of Separation”) and Kerry Fox (“An Angel at My Table”)--it is gut-wrenching viewing nonetheless.

Institutional racism in pre-civil rights America meant segregation in the military and, routinely, menial jobs for black troops. It also meant uneasiness and overt hostility among many American whites when Europeans treated black soldiers with hospitable courtesy.

That’s the atmosphere when Travis (Vance) and his friend Barrett (Leland Gantt) are warmly received by one small town’s local welcoming committee. Travis winds up on trial for his life, accused of rape.

While the villains are one-dimensional, the film makes a disturbing impact with its historical context of shameful racial inequity.

Paul Seed directed this HBO Showcase/BBC presentation; the screenplay was written by Pablo Fenjves and Bryan Goluboff from a story by Fenjves and Walter Bernstein. The executive producer was Harry Belafonte.

* “The Affair” airs at 8 tonight on HBO.