‘Clover’ Looks at Race in Family Unit

Don’t like cousin Fred? Can’t even speak civilly to Aunt Velma? If we can’t get along with our own flesh and blood, it probably shouldn’t come as any surprise that we sometimes have trouble living with the rest of the human family.

The television movie “Clover,” debuting at 9 tonight on cable’s USA Network, goes beyond platitudes about surmounting racial divisions by thinking of one another as family. It urges us to adopt this mind-set, yes, but at least it acknowledges the difficulties involved.

Set in the present-day South, the story begins with a sun-kissed outdoor wedding at which radiant Sara Kate (Elizabeth McGovern) marries beaming Gaten (Ernie Hudson) while his affluent African American family looks on, wondering whether a union with this white Boston woman will work. Still more skeptical is the sullen Clover (Zelda Harris), Gaten’s preteen daughter from his first marriage.

Sara Kate and Gaten head off on their honeymoon, but before the guests have even left the reception, an officer arrives with news of an accident. And so, Clover and Sara Kate must learn to be family.

“If you can’t even make a bowl of grits, how are you supposed to take care of me?” Clover asks, rolling her eyes, as Sara Kate faces the brave new world of Southern cooking. Sara Kate, paying a visit to Gaten’s grave, confesses: “About the only thing that Clover and I have in common is that we both wish I had died in that crash instead of you.”

And wise Aunt Katie (Beatrice Winde) says: “Oh, this is harder than race. This is family; there’s nothing harder than family.”

Bill Cain’s script, based on Dori Sanders’ 1990 novel, frankly addresses the ways in which grief can short-circuit a person, with Clover putting herself in peril out of a near-suicidal desire to be reunited with her father. And it truthfully addresses racism in the character of Gaten’s well-meaning but on-edge sister Everleen (Loretta Devine), who makes no pretense of trusting white people--particularly Sara Kate.

Under Jud Taylor’s direction, the scenes seem as though they’re shot in a perpetual hazy glow, as though this were an animated Hallmark card (indeed, it is produced in association with Hallmark Entertainment). Yet Taylor keeps the proceedings grounded in reality, despite the “Ghost”-like device of having Gaten stick around while his loved ones adjust to their new roles.

Truthful performances make the story still more powerful. Keep a box of tissues beside the remote control.

* “Clover” debuts at 9 tonight on USA cable. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be inappropriate for young children).