Skin (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Cynthia S

  
  Based on a true story. This movie really makes one re-think what they "know", and "believe", about race. This lady's story is truly a sad, and unjust one, and prompted me to research apartheid era racial classification tests, and the life of Sandra Laing. This… More
  Based on a true story. This movie really makes one re-think what they "know", and "believe", about race. This lady's story is truly a sad, and unjust one, and prompted me to research apartheid era racial classification tests, and the life of Sandra Laing. This unusual case really highlights the effects of South Africa's racial classification system. Very interesting story with actual footage at the end of her, and her white family.

• paul s

  
  I usually approach docu-dramas cautiously - they can certainly be a mixed bag, where the story usually trumps any attempt at creating art; thankfully Skin, due to the very nature of its story, is so compelling that it transcends the genre. Telling the story of a 1960's South… More
  I usually approach docu-dramas cautiously - they can certainly be a mixed bag, where the story usually trumps any attempt at creating art; thankfully Skin, due to the very nature of its story, is so compelling that it transcends the genre. Telling the story of a 1960's South African girl, born to white Afrikaner parents, Skin shows us apartheid up close and personal, since Sandra, the young girl in question, appears to be "black". The story shows it all, how the government's rigid yet ridiculous determinations of race affect both sides of the equation, leaving Sandra an outcast in both worlds. The story focuses on Sandra as she grows up - from getting tossed from an all white (segregated due to Apartheid) school due to her appearance, to her late teen years as her white parents try to hook her up with suitable white suitors. Ultimately she falls for a black man who seems the only man who can make her smile. When her father finds out he has his own daughter arrested - since doing the horizontal with someone not of your race is considered a moral crime. What strikes you most, aside from the austere terrain, is how Sandra is a woman with one foot in each world, and yet an outcast in both. By law she cannot marry outside her race, so the children she produces with her black "husband" are considered an affirmation of her lawlessness, and is always aware that the government can step in at any moment and take her children from her. And yet she "looks black" so cannot find a good "white" job, or fit in with white society. The story is heartbreaking showing not only Sandra's strong character, but how a system can destroy - case in point is the destruction of Sandra's black shanty town; not only do the bulldozers level the place (so white folk can develop the area), but they also destroy the dreams and ultimately the soul of Sandra's man - as well as the formerly loving relationship they had together. There was no reason for any of this, and yet bigotry still runs rampant, each generation instilling the same fear and apprehension of things we find different from ourselves. I found the performances profound throughout, especially that of Sophie Okonedo as Sandra and Alice Krieg as her mother, caught in two hells - the one concerning the color of her daughter's skin and a second as a 1960's wife who must meekly obey her husband, though it breaks her heart to do so. A thought provoking film on so many levels - this should be required viewing for all early teens.

• Jennifer X

  
  The best moments of "Skin" occur in the background depiction of the country itself. South Africa fairly shimmers beneath a sun-tinted lens, brimming from the tips of a wheat stalk to a scarlet patch on a headscarf with rich culture and change. If the rest of film were… More
  The best moments of "Skin" occur in the background depiction of the country itself. South Africa fairly shimmers beneath a sun-tinted lens, brimming from the tips of a wheat stalk to a scarlet patch on a headscarf with rich culture and change. If the rest of film were handled with such subtlety and attention, "Skin" would surely serve the purpose it was meant for, bringing attention to an imperative social issue. But subtle it is not. Sandra's father, Abraham Laing (Sam Neill, "Jurassic Park"), is an angry, racist maniac whose hate for his daughter and everything she represents is painfully transparent. His obsession with getting his daughter reclassified as white as a young child quickly escalates to insanity - banging things on the wall, screaming nonsensical obscenities and gesticulating wildly to his skin. Okonedo's portrayal of Sandra is no better. To whatever extent Neill overacts, Okonedo seems to withdraw from the screen with equal degree, with hunched back and morose looks. Fledgling director Anthony Fabian doesn't leave the film room to breathe for itself, and instead resorts to cheap tricks to hound sentimentality, when the story alone could have survived without manipulation. These exaggerated character polarizations scream their purpose loud and clear - racism is bad, bad, bad. "Skin" is a film that can raise a lot of good questions about race and skin color, at least on the premise of the true story that it was based on. The source material is rich with intricacies and brings attention to the poignant horrors of segregation and human rights abuse of the era. With its clunky, overwrought handling of apartheid, however, "Skin" is just one of the worst possible films that could've been made from it.

• Film C

  
  i quite enoyed this movie, it was interesting and amazing how one women could go through all of that! Its an inspirational story and a more personnal take on the apartied which i really liked! A really intriguing true story movie and well acted and i love sam neill! but it doesnt… More
  i quite enoyed this movie, it was interesting and amazing how one women could go through all of that! Its an inspirational story and a more personnal take on the apartied which i really liked! A really intriguing true story movie and well acted and i love sam neill! but it doesnt have any emotion or enough (fictional) story to make this movie bette!

• Walter M

  
  Based on a true story, not a Nadine Gordimer short story, "Skin" is a disappointing and unsubtle, yet ultimately worthwhile movie, about Sandra Laing(Ella Ramangwane as a child; Sophie Okonedo as an adult) who is born with cafe au lait skin, in contrast to the paleness of… More
  Based on a true story, not a Nadine Gordimer short story, "Skin" is a disappointing and unsubtle, yet ultimately worthwhile movie, about Sandra Laing(Ella Ramangwane as a child; Sophie Okonedo as an adult) who is born with cafe au lait skin, in contrast to the paleness of her caucasian parents(Alice Krige & Sam Neill).(There is an actual condition called polygenic inheritance where because of the wide variety of genes inherited from different people, there may be some surprises down the line that have not been seen in a while.) Normally, this might only raise a few eyebrows but since the movie starts in 1964(and told in increments of about ten years) South Africa(I don't have to tell you what that means, do I?) the reaction is far worse. When young Sandra is sent away to school with her brother for the first time, she is sent home after an ugly incident and is reclassified from white to colored. Her father vows to fight, fearing she will be taken away but eventually the law is changed in their favor. Now, I was afraid how "Skin" would turn at this point but her parents are not as sympathetic as they first might have seemed, cutting down on the chance for any unfortunate grandstanding and speechmaking. Their only concern is for their daughter, not towards anybody else of color and Sandra, who is caught between two worlds, is deeply uncomfortable in her own skin. And the movie excels best in showing the human cost of the bureaucratic insanity(somewhere Kafka is smiling) of a government that can only see in black and white. Regretfully, in a movie about bigotry, why did all the women have to be saints while the men come off considerably worse? It is never quite that simple.

• Movee C

  
  Based on a true story, Skin was a movie that many would find unbelievable. How could two white parents have not one but two biologically black children? It could seem preposterous, inconceivable to people unfamiliar with genetics. But it is very plausible. Sandra story is a sad one.… More
  Based on a true story, Skin was a movie that many would find unbelievable. How could two white parents have not one but two biologically black children? It could seem preposterous, inconceivable to people unfamiliar with genetics. But it is very plausible. Sandra story is a sad one. She lived most of her life as an outsider. She was not black yet she was unaccepted as white. This movie shows that besides color we, as a people, are truely not different and that we all are connected by our forefathers. **Sophie Okonedo is a brillant actress. Look forward to many more performances from her.

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