New On DVD - Skin

Skin is a fictionalized retelling of the true and terrible story of Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo), a South African woman whose race was classified and reclassified by the government during apartheid. Born in 1955 to officially white parents, Sandra was judged and legally assigned white. However, when young Sandra entered the larger world, her darker skin, and especially her tightly curled black hair, marked her. At 10, she was dragged out of school by the police because the principal had decided she wasn’t white. The government agreed and relabeled her “colored.” And thus begins Sandra Laing's entre into humanity and reality.

After seeing Skin, I felt a great opportunity to really see the true affects of apartheid was missed in this most unique of situations where a "white" couple gives birth to a "black" child. However, after reading many comments on Skin from South Africans, now living outside of South Africa, who all share that director Anthony Fabian captures this period of apartheid in South Africa masterfully and took them back, I was conflicted.

Having never been to South Africa, it is the filmmaker's obligation to transport the audience to a time and place - particularly if one has never been to said place and with non-fictional material and events like the very life events of Sandra Laing. Ironically, I always felt like I was watching a movie.

Nevertheless, Skin is a powerful film, due to knowing that all of this happened only a few years ago.