Skin

This is a great film that is based on the true story of Sandra Liang in South Africa. Sandra, who has dark skin, was born to two white parents in the heat of the apartheid. She struggles to define herself against the classifications of society. Her dad, who is racist, causes strain on her own self discovery, and strains her relationship with her mother as well. The film chronicles her adventures at an all white school, as well as her marriage to a black man, although she is "white". Her journey is intriguing. The film itself makes you question the race-labeling system.

It is a great film that will raise questions and spark intriguing debates on what it means to be black.

Sophie Okonedo is so beautiful and such a great actor! I still think she should have won an Oscar for her portrayal of Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda. Again, she does an excellent job in Skin.

I saw this last month at the 2009 Palm springs International Film Festival. This is based on the true story set in South Africa during the Apartheid system of a Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo), who was born of dark skin to two Afrikaaners of white Eropean descent Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie (Alice Krige) Laing. Sandra is a genetic throwback because unknown to her parents, and like many Afrikaaners, there was mixed blood in their heritage between the Euopeans who settled in South Africa and the indigenous Africans. The story begins with Sophie getting expelled from an all-white school because of her differences in appearance. She is reclassified as dark. Her father (who is himself a bigot) fights to have her reclassified as white. She eventually is but against her family wishes she causes an unbreakable divide when she decides to marry a black man and have herself reclassified yet again as black. This is the feature film directorial debut of writer/director Anthony Fabian who was also present at my screening for an audience Q&A. The screenplay is from Helen Crawley but there was a book written recently by author Judith Stone called When She Was White that goes more into the complete story of Sophie's life. This film covers Sophie from around age 10 through her first marriage. Both Fabian's film and Stone's book had the cooperation of Sophie herself in their making. An excellent cast with three veterans in the principal roles with Neill, Krige, and the young but very busy Okonedo who was an Oscar nominee for Hotel Rwanda. This is a good film but it plays more like a made for TV movie and HBO, BET, Hallmark, A&E, AMC or Lifetime should all consider showing this. I would give this an 7.5 out of 10 and recommend it.

Background: A dramatization of the life of Sandra Laing who we see speaking in the end credits. This South African story begins in 1966 during the apartheid era with a white store owner and their two children one of whom, Sandra Laing, has features that would be controversially classified as "coloureds" (mixed ethnic/racial & commonly w/white males) along with blacks & whites & Asians (mostly Indian).

Criticism: Whenever white, mostly Dutch, Afrikaners are presented they are almost all portrayed as vile & as nasty as can be. Could this have been so universally true?

Story: At the time people were defined/registered by their skin color. We see Sandra undergoing a magistrate's exam by having her skin examined & a pencil placed into her hair to test for holding power meant to distinguish coloureds & blacks from whites. Later we hear a courtroom geneticist testimony that most Afrikaners (white Dutch) carry "black" genes (guffaws from the white audience on hearing that) thus a recombination could produce darker skin & hair (called polygenic inheritance). Later in our story the registration laws were changed to make descent rather than appearance the determining factor. We follow Sandra into the '80s as she grows up & the alienation from her family. You get a feel for the effects of racism on a person that no written story could convey. How it divides & breaks whatever goodness is in people. We see Sandra at the end with her Rainbow Tuck Shop (a very small shop selling food, etc.). And this from her, "It's what's in the inside of you that matters, not the outside."

Comment: I can think of some politicians, particularly one, raised in a wealthy privileged setting w/servants that while growing up could have benefited from seeing this story.

This is a movie that tugs at your heart strings and brings the ugly truth of prejudice to light. Sandra is a strong women who fights through many battles and achieves more than can be expected. She is courageous despite the many obstacles that lie in her way. We all experience identity struggles as we grow up but Sandra's was above the norm and she faced it head on with dignity.

Prejudice is the focus of the movie and how we as a people allow this to determine how and what we feel about one another. Just as in the movie Roots we see the struggle of the African American people, in the movie skin we are brought in on a more personal level as we see the internal struggle of one girl as she grows into a women looking for acceptance and love. The question is where will she find it.

Sophie Okonedo portrays the character of Sandra with touching and emotional quality. Her facial expressions bring you into her heart without a word being said. The soft lighting and grainy texture of the film bring the conflict and emotion out of the screen and into your living room. This is a must see movie.