Skin Review

Director: Anthony Fabian Screenplay: Helen Crawley, Anthony Fabian, Jessie Keyt, Helena Kriel Cast: Sophie Okonedo, Alice Krige, Sam Neill, Tony Kgoroge Time: 107min Age Restriction: 13VPM

Genre:
Drama

Summary Review:
Skin is an uplifting film about finding one's identity amongst the clutter of who everyone says you are or should be or can't be.

Synopsis:
Skin is another film that I enjoyed to my surprise. I had been expecting something solemn and plodding, but although the movie deals compassionately with very serious issues and has an air of tension, its warm, humorous moments lift it.

Based on the true story of Sandra Laing, Skin tells the life story of this black-looking woman born to white parents in South Africa during the apartheid era. Although both Sandra's are white Afrikaners, Sandra's skin and hair appear more ethnically African and according to the law she must be re-classified as black, forbidden to go to a "whites only" school.

As Sandra grows older, the colour of her skin causes more and more tension in her family and when she falls in love with a black man, her father disowns her.

Somehow, despite all the pain and injustice it depicts, Skin remains a positive film with an uplifting conclusion and the well-delivered message that one is not defined by what others think of you.