Skin

It's 1965 Eastern Transvaal, South Africa. Sandra Laing is the young daughter of white Afrikaner parents Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie Laing (Alice Krige). She is kicked out of her all-white school for her African features despite being born as white. She is reclassified as colored and Abraham overturns it in court. At 17 in 1973, she has a relationship with black Petrus which drives a rift in between her family.

It's a compelling intriguing real life story. It takes a look at Apartheid from a different angle. There is a tough question at the center of the movie that is left uncertain. It does leave the movie at a disadvantage dealing with real people. Nothing is quite as clean in real life.

This film follows the tragic story about a girl named Sandra Laing attempting to define who she is as a person during the repressive time of apartheid. Born into a white family, yet having a dark skin tone, commonly referred to scientifically as polygenetic inheritance, Sandra is constantly questioning her sense of identity and belonging amongst people that, supposedly, love her. The film powerfully encapsulates this woman's struggle throughout her arduous life, and as a viewer leaves you inspired by her courage and effort to simply live a happy and liberated life. In essence, it's a tragic yet inspiring story that should be heard and acknowledged by all people.

Anthony Fabian's 'Skin'is a powerful drama of South Africa's shameful history of white colonial Apartheit rule,that was thankfully overthrown. The story starts in 1965 when a young ten year old girl, Sandra has been thrown out of school for being black,despite the fact that she is of white,European parents. Her father,Abraham (played by screen veteran,Sam Neill)fights to get her back in school,by challenging the South African courts to insist that she's white). When he is unsuccessful,the family resigns to the fact that their daughter has to deal with the burden that she will be treated badly,because she is regarded as black. As the years go by,Sandra (now played as an adult by Sophie Okonedo,who absolutely shone in 'Hotel Rwanda')has grown into a beautiful woman,who is desired by one of the black locals, which disturbs Abe much (Abe is as much a vile racist as the rest of the population of the town). The rest of the film spans over a twenty plus year time frame that tells much of South Africa's social history,set against Sandra's tempestuous own personal history. The cast is rounded out by Alice Krige (as Sandra's long suffering mother,Sannie),Tony Kgorogue,as Sandra's lover & father of her children, who turns out to be hot tempered & abusive toward Sandra, as well as a cast of South African actors that turn in shining performances. The screenplay (written by Helen Crawley,Jessie Keyl & Helena Kriel) makes the most out of what was easily a dark period in South Africa's social history (and what some,even to this day,would love nothing better than to do but bring back). Rated PG-13 by the MPAA,this film contains some strong language,brief nudity & sexuality,and some truly disturbing images of racist fueled violence.

This story about a dark-skinned girl born to white Afrikaners during the apartheid era will come as a revelation to anyone who has forgotten what South Africa was like before the transformation brought about by Nelson Mandela and his colleagues. Not that South Africa is out of the jungle of racial conflict; it certainly isn't. But one hopes that the fate inflicted on Sandra Liang because of her color could happen today.

The story is gripping. The direction and the photography are efficient. The two best known actors in this film, Sophie Okenado ( Rawanda) and Sam Neill, are excellent as the adult Sandra and her Afrikaner father. But other unfamiliar players are also very good

Too few of us realize the atrocities of Apartheid, a social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. 'The term apartheid (from the Afrikaans word for "apartness") was coined in the 1930s and used as a political slogan of the National Party in the early 1940s, but the policy itself extends back to the beginning of white settlement in South Africa in 1652. After the primarily Afrikaner Nationalists came to power in 1948, the social custom of apartheid was systematized under law. The implementation of the policy, later referred to as "separate development," was made possible by the Population Registration Act of 1950, which put all South Africans into three racial categories: Bantu (black African), white, or Coloured (of mixed race).' Yes, everyone knows the story of Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid, but too few of us recognize the appalling effects of that system on the peoples of South Africa. This true story should alter that and perhaps bring a higher degree of respect for those who survived that ugly system. Based on the book 'When She Was White' by Judith Stone, Anthony Fabian wrote the story (with Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt and Helena Kriel) and directs this terrifying but ultimately triumphant film - a story we shall not soon forget.

Abraham and Lannie Laing (Sam Neill and Alice Krige) are Afrikaans who live and work their general store in the countryside with their two children Sandra (Ella Ramangwane as the young Sandra and Sphie Okenedo as the mature Sandra) and Henry. The Laings have sequestered themselves because their daughter appears black. Abraham constantly defends the 'whiteness' of his daughter at every level of the government and finally the Laings obtain admission to private white school for Sandra and Henry. The school quickly dismisses Sandra because she 'is black', is beaten by teachers, and the school calls in doctors and other government support to back their opinion. But through the tireless efforts of Abraham he finally gets a certification of Sandra's 'whiteness'. Sandra faces intolerance from the community but finds solace in the attention of a 'kaffir', Petrus Zwane (Tony Kgoroge) and in time the frustrated Sandra accepts the warmth of Petrus and they fall in love. Abraham is furious and casts Sandra out of his home: Sandra and Petrus move into a black village and have babies until the whites demand the land on which the blacks are living and destroy Sandra and Petrus's home. Petrus turns to drink and blames his loss of all his goods on marrying a 'white girl': Sandra and her now three children move to Johannesburg to find safety and employment, having been rejected by Sandra's parents. When the Apartheid is banished Sandra becomes a spokesperson for her people and her country because she 'never gave up'.

In this history of the Apartheid the impact is made so very much stronger by the fact that the film shows both sides of the struggle - from the white viewpoint and the black viewpoint. Sandra's father may have fought against the prejudice but when his daughter accepts being black, he is as raw and prejudiced as the rest of the whites. Sandra's mother (played with compassion by Alice Krige) maintains her love and support of her beloved daughter but by societal demands she must bow to her husband's wishes. As Sandra Sophie Okenedo shines in a performance that is brilliantly three dimensional - she is an enormously gifted actress. The entire large cast is excellent, recreating a period in history we can only hope will never happen again. This is a wholly satisfying film.

Grady Harp