''Skin'' is a British-South African 2008 biographical film about Sandra Laing, a South African woman born to

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

parents, who was classified as " Coloured" during the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid wa ...

era, presumably due to a genetic case of

atavism In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when ...

. Directed by Anthony Fabian and Based on the book ''When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race'' by Judith Stone, ''Skin'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

on 7 September 2009. The film was released to a limited number of US cinemas on 30 October 2009. It started showing in South Africa on 22 January 2010, and in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

25 July 2010.

Synopsis

The year is 1965, and 10-year-old Sandra and her parents, Abraham and Sannie, are white Afrikaners. Her parents are shopkeepers in a remote area of the

Eastern Transvaal Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. I ...

and, despite Sandra's mixed-race appearance, have lovingly brought her up as their white little girl. Sandra is sent to a boarding school in the neighbouring town of

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

, where her (white) brother Leon is also studying, but parents of other students and teachers complain that she does not belong in this school. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as coloured, and expelled from the school. Sandra's parents are shocked, but Abraham fights through the courts to have the classification reversed. The story becomes an international scandal and media pressure forces the law to change so that Sandra is classified as officially white again. By the time she is 17, Sandra realizes she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus, a young black man and the local vegetable seller, and begins an illicit love affair. Abraham threatens to shoot Petrus and disown Sandra. Sannie is torn between her husband's rage and her daughter's predicament. Sandra elopes with Petrus to

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. Abraham alerts the police and has them arrested and put in prison for the illegal border crossing. Sandra is released by the local magistrate to return home with her parents, but she decides to return to Petrus, as she is pregnant with his child. Her father disowns her. Now Sandra must live her life as a coloured woman in South Africa for the first time, restricted to housing with no running water and no sanitation, and struggling on little income. Although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion. She and her mother make attempts to communicate but are consistently thwarted by Sandra's father. Late in his life, when he is too sick to act on his own, he reconsiders and asks his wife to take him to visit Sandra. Sandra's mother, angry that his new-found guilt had surfaced only after he had for 10 years stubbornly ignored her own emotional torment and longing for a reunion, refuses his request and says that neither of them deserves Sandra's forgiveness. Eventually, Sandra's marriage to Petrus deteriorates and he becomes physically abusive. She leaves him, taking their two children with her. She looks for her parents but finds they had since moved from her childhood home. Not knowing where they are, she continues with her life, raising her children by herself. When the country's

government comes to an end, there is renewed interest in her story by the media. Sandra's mother sees Sandra interviewed on television and writes to her to tell her of her father's death two years earlier. The letter provides no return address nor any other clue as to Sannie's whereabouts, but receiving it prompts Sandra to renew her search. Eventually, she finds her mother living in a nursing home and the two are happily reunited. An epilogue tells that Sandra's mother died in 2001, and her two brothers continue to refuse to see her or her family.

Cast

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She began her f ...

... Sandra Laing *

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one ...

... Abraham Laing *

Alice Krige Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...

... Sannie Laing * Tony Kgoroge ... Petrus Zwane *

Terri Ann Eckstein Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a common feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa. Notable people with the name include: * Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter * Terri S. Armstrong, A ...

... Elsie Laing (aged 19) *

Bongani Masondo Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

... Henry Laing (aged 20) * Ella Ramangwane ... Young Sandra Laing * Jonathan Pienaar ... Van Niekerk * Hannes Brummer ... Leon Laing * Onida Cowan ... Miss Van Uys * Lauren Das Neves ... Elize

Reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film four stars. Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' gave the film three out of five stars.

Awards

''Skin'' has won 19 international festival awards, including: *

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California since 1986. The festival boasts screenings of over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. SBIFF al ...

(Audience Award), * Los Angeles

Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an a ...

(Audience and Jury Awards), *AFI

Dallas International Film Festival The Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), presented by Dallas Film, is an annual film festival that takes place in Dallas, Texas. About Dallas Film Dallas Film, established as Dallas Film Society, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizatio ...

(Audience Award), * Palm Beach International Film Festival (Jury Award, Best Film), * Rochester High Falls International Film Festival (Audience Award), *Tri-Continental, South Africa (Audience Award), *Bordeaux Cinema Science Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Best Film), *Mediterrante Film Festival (Bari), Italy (Best Film), *Belize International Film Festival (Audience Award), *

Moondance International Film Festival The Moondance International Film Festival is an independent annual film festival and awards competition in the USA that takes place in the fall. The first Moondance Film Festival was held in 2000. The festival has usually been held in Boulder, Co ...

, USA (Best Score, Hélène Muddiman), *Accolade Award For Excellence (Original Score Hélène Muddiman), *

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Time For Peace Award (Voted by 21 UN Ambassadors), *

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Humanitarian Award (Italy), *Griffon Environmental Award, *

Giffoni Film Festival The Giffoni International Film Festival is an Italian children's film festival which takes place annually in Giffoni Valle Piana, Campania. It began in 1971. The Giffoni International Film Festival typically has around 100,000 guests and has had ...

, Italy, *Orange Film Prize, *Ability Media International Awards, *MAE Moseac Award for Best Independent Film, MAE Moseac Award for Best Actress (

), *

Bahamas International Film Festival The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a non-profit film festival held in the Bahamas. Open to both locals and international visitors, the festival was founded by Leslie Vanderpool in 2004. BIFF also hosts a youth film workshop that a ...

, Rising Star Award,

Nominations

* British Independent Film Awards 2009, Best Actress (

) *

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

2010 (Outstanding Foreign Film and Best Actress,

) *

Black Reel Awards The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...

2010 (

, Best Actress) *Political Film Society, (Best Film) *

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

(Best Score), Hélène Muddiman

References

External links

* *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skin 2008 films 2008 biographical drama films British biographical drama films Apartheid films Films set in South Africa South African biographical drama films Films shot in South Africa 2008 drama films 2000s English-language films English-language South African films 2000s British films