Review – SKIN.
August 5th 2010 05:36
A dark skinned girl born to white South African parents attempts to explore her identity in the era of apartheid as her government, her parents and society as a whole struggle with what it means to be the black child of white parents in a nation deeply divided by race.
RELEASE DATE : July 22 2010
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
CAST:
Sophie Okonedo – Sandra Laing
Sam Neill – Abraham Laing
Alice Krige – Mother Laing
Tony Kgorge – Petrus Zwane
Ella Ramangwane – Young Sandra
DIRECTOR: Anthony Fabian
WRITING CREDITS: Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt, Helena Kriel
DISTRIBUTOR: ICON FILMS
SYNOPSIS: A dark skinned girl born to white South Afrivan parents attempts to explore her identity in the era of apartheid as her government, her parents and society as a whole struggle with what it means to be the black child of white parents in a nation deeply divided by race.
The year is 1955. Sandra Laing has just been born to Afrikaners, her brown skin and curly hair the surprising result of genetics. Sandra lives in a society where the colour of one’s skin determines the outcome of one’s life.
This true story follows the struggles for Sandra from her exclusion from a whites only school based on the colour of her skin even though her official race status is recorded as white, through the court system as her father fights to have his daughter given the ‘rights’ she deserves as a child of white Afrikaners and her elopement with the only man she finds any form of acceptance from.
A question of race under a bizarre and cruel regime in Apartheid South Africa
REVIEW:
Dealing with issues surrounding race and prejudice in film can be a very touchy subject. Not only do you have to try to be objective in how you represent the situation, but you also have to ensure that the story is told well so as to keep the audience’s attention.
SKIN attempts to illustrate the bigotry that went on under the white South African regime during the period from the 1950’s until the end of the apartheid era in the 90’s, and the problems surrounding the separation of whites and coloureds. Sandra Laing’s story is not just an isolated case. Recently, a white baby was born to black parents in SOUTH AFRICA. This child will have their own issues to deal with. Coloured children born to white parents and vice versa is not implausible. The ease at which different races and religions integrate with each other today is a common and natural everyday occurence. In the 1950’s under the Springboks, this would have been verboten and infidelity would definitely have been suspected. Though there might not be any concrete evidence, people do make their own opinions.
This film does a great job of trying to show both sides of the conflict. The father Abraham played by Sam Neill is a conflicted soul. His first child is a white male. His second, a black female. He fights for his daughter’s rights while at the same time treating the blacks that visit his store with the contempt of most other Afrikaners. He refuses to fully accept that his lineage could really have black blood in his ancestry holding the same prejudices that were instilled in him from his own formative years. His wife(Alice Krige) is torn between the love of her children and her duty to her husband. At the same time, Sandra is never fully accepted by those she feels most at comfortable with and struggles to deal with the prejudices of both sides.
While Neill does a reasonable job, at times his accent falters and we are reminded that this is not his natural accent. His mood swings at times feel a little too forced, but for the most part, the audience will feel the pain for both parents as they have to deal with this very unusual situation. Alice Krige, is wonderful as the troubled wife and mother, herself oppressed by a husband who is too stubborn and opinionated to listen to anyone.
Sophie Okonedo is terrific as the grown up Sandra, but her portrayal of the young teenage Sandra is a little forced. While she attempts to show us this perplexed young girl, caught between two very different worlds, it is not until she becomes a woman that the character really comes to life.
Of all the characters in the film, the young Sandra (dsfgsfgg) feels the most genuine. This is when we can really understand the confusion of this dark skinned child who is told she is white by her parents while everyone around her is telling her the opposite. The elder brother appears infrequently throughout the film and this is probably fortunate, as this performance also feels forced. Once again, using the same actor for the teenage and adult children doesn’t quite work and it would have been worthwhile hiring two young South African actors to bridge the years between childhood and adulthood, helping to develop the angry and confused adolescent years where things are no longer as simple as they before.
Everyone has experienced some level of discrimination in their life. But very few would have been discriminated on both sides leaving them somewhere in the middle with nowhere to turn. SKIN shows us that everyone can be guilty at intolerance at some stage in their lives. It’s how they deal with these prejudices that is important!
RANKING 8/10
www.skinthemovie.net
SJC
RELEASE DATE : July 22 2010
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
CAST:
Sophie Okonedo – Sandra Laing
Sam Neill – Abraham Laing
Alice Krige – Mother Laing
Tony Kgorge – Petrus Zwane
Ella Ramangwane – Young Sandra
DIRECTOR: Anthony Fabian
WRITING CREDITS: Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt, Helena Kriel
DISTRIBUTOR: ICON FILMS
SYNOPSIS: A dark skinned girl born to white South Afrivan parents attempts to explore her identity in the era of apartheid as her government, her parents and society as a whole struggle with what it means to be the black child of white parents in a nation deeply divided by race.
The year is 1955. Sandra Laing has just been born to Afrikaners, her brown skin and curly hair the surprising result of genetics. Sandra lives in a society where the colour of one’s skin determines the outcome of one’s life.
This true story follows the struggles for Sandra from her exclusion from a whites only school based on the colour of her skin even though her official race status is recorded as white, through the court system as her father fights to have his daughter given the ‘rights’ she deserves as a child of white Afrikaners and her elopement with the only man she finds any form of acceptance from.
A question of race under a bizarre and cruel regime in Apartheid South Africa
REVIEW:
Dealing with issues surrounding race and prejudice in film can be a very touchy subject. Not only do you have to try to be objective in how you represent the situation, but you also have to ensure that the story is told well so as to keep the audience’s attention.
SKIN attempts to illustrate the bigotry that went on under the white South African regime during the period from the 1950’s until the end of the apartheid era in the 90’s, and the problems surrounding the separation of whites and coloureds. Sandra Laing’s story is not just an isolated case. Recently, a white baby was born to black parents in SOUTH AFRICA. This child will have their own issues to deal with. Coloured children born to white parents and vice versa is not implausible. The ease at which different races and religions integrate with each other today is a common and natural everyday occurence. In the 1950’s under the Springboks, this would have been verboten and infidelity would definitely have been suspected. Though there might not be any concrete evidence, people do make their own opinions.
This film does a great job of trying to show both sides of the conflict. The father Abraham played by Sam Neill is a conflicted soul. His first child is a white male. His second, a black female. He fights for his daughter’s rights while at the same time treating the blacks that visit his store with the contempt of most other Afrikaners. He refuses to fully accept that his lineage could really have black blood in his ancestry holding the same prejudices that were instilled in him from his own formative years. His wife(Alice Krige) is torn between the love of her children and her duty to her husband. At the same time, Sandra is never fully accepted by those she feels most at comfortable with and struggles to deal with the prejudices of both sides.
While Neill does a reasonable job, at times his accent falters and we are reminded that this is not his natural accent. His mood swings at times feel a little too forced, but for the most part, the audience will feel the pain for both parents as they have to deal with this very unusual situation. Alice Krige, is wonderful as the troubled wife and mother, herself oppressed by a husband who is too stubborn and opinionated to listen to anyone.
Sophie Okonedo is terrific as the grown up Sandra, but her portrayal of the young teenage Sandra is a little forced. While she attempts to show us this perplexed young girl, caught between two very different worlds, it is not until she becomes a woman that the character really comes to life.
Of all the characters in the film, the young Sandra (dsfgsfgg) feels the most genuine. This is when we can really understand the confusion of this dark skinned child who is told she is white by her parents while everyone around her is telling her the opposite. The elder brother appears infrequently throughout the film and this is probably fortunate, as this performance also feels forced. Once again, using the same actor for the teenage and adult children doesn’t quite work and it would have been worthwhile hiring two young South African actors to bridge the years between childhood and adulthood, helping to develop the angry and confused adolescent years where things are no longer as simple as they before.
Everyone has experienced some level of discrimination in their life. But very few would have been discriminated on both sides leaving them somewhere in the middle with nowhere to turn. SKIN shows us that everyone can be guilty at intolerance at some stage in their lives. It’s how they deal with these prejudices that is important!
RANKING 8/10
www.skinthemovie.net
SJC
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