Skin

by Sarah Baillie | 4:31 am 23/08/2010

Directed Anthony Fabian Rialto 4/5

kin is a biographical film about the life of Sandra Laing, a ‘coloured’ child born to white parents during the apartheid era in South Africa. Despite her skin being distinctly darker than her parents, an unusual phenomenon, Sandra (Sophie Okenedo) has been brought up as a white child. She has no idea that she is different to others until she is sent to boarding school, where she is bullied and ostracised because of her colour. Although Sandra has papers that classify her as white, complaints from parents lead to Sandra’s reclassification as coloured, and her expulsion from the school. Her father (Sam Neill), a proud Afrikaaner, adamant that his daughter is indeed white, fights the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

   Somewhat identity-less, Sandra struggles through her teenage years. She is not white, and does not feel white, yet she is not a ‘native’ African either. Sandra’s skin colour and her predicament, floating around in racial limbo, tears her family apart.

   A South African accent is not the easiest to pull off, and unfortunately Sam Neill does not quite get it. However, Sophie Okenedo gives an outstanding performance, conveying Laing’s immense strength, grace, and dignity through her pain and suffering.

   A tragic, heartbreaking story, Skin is a bleak portrayal of a society plagued with embedded racism. It is by no means a feel-good film, but apartheid is a part of world history that we cannot forget. No one can say that they felt good after watching Hotel Rwanda or Blood Diamond, but they are stories we need to know.

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