SKIN at the Vancouver South African Film Festival (movie review)

Last night I attended the opening gala of the first-ever Vancouver South African Film Festival (you may remember I gave away tickets to the gala here). My friend Lauren Kresowaty accompanied me and we enjoyed the core film, SKIN (with Academy Award nominee Sophie Okonedo, one of my favorite actresses, as well as Sam Neill and Alice Krige, who also do a phenomenal job).

You can read the synopsis below:

Ten year-old Sandra is distinctly African looking. Her parents, Abraham and Sannie, are white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal 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, where her (white) brother Leon is also studying, but parents and teachers complain that she doesn’t belong. 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 becomes officially ‘White’ again.

By the time she is 17, Sandra realises she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus — a black man, 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. Abraham alerts the police, has them arrested and put in prison. Sandra is told by the local magistrate to go home, but she refuses.

Now Sandra must live her life, for the first time, as a black woman in South Africa — with no running water, no sanitation, and little income. She and Petrus have two children, and although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion.

After many more years of hardship and struggle, the chances of that reunion ever happening seem remote. But Sandra carries her father’s advice with her wherever she goes: ‘Never give up!’

SKIN is a story of family, forgiveness and the triumph of the human spirit.

I shed tears while watching SKIN. Several times, in fact. I will fully confess that growing up, I never really understood the Apartheid. And now that I have several close friends who are South African, I am almost scared to talk to them about it and their experiences growing up. There have been a few Mexican movies with a similar theme (the Mom is white, the daughter is black and there’s always a lot of drama). Thanks to Chef Rossana Ascencio who reminded me about the first one, Angelitos Negros, with Pedro Infante and Rita Montaner.

But knowing that SKIN was based on a true story (Sandra Laing‘s story) made the movie impact me much more. I still don’t understand how people could be segregated based on race (same way in which it boggles my mind to think about discrimination based on sexual orientation).

While SKIN is an absolutely beautiful movie, and all actors in the movie do a fabulous job, I couldn’t help but feel heartbroken and sad. For Sandra’s parents, who fought so hard to protect their daughter and her right to schooling. But even more, for Sandra herself. While the story tells us about how she overcame her challenges, it’s hard not to feel that there could have been better ways to do things and to improve communication between daughter and parents.

And seeing how much Sandra’s parents adored her and fought for her, I couldn’t help but think of my own. My parents’ adoration for me and my brothers is unequivocal. I am so grateful I have the parents I do, because they made me strong. I am as successful as I am because my parents loved me every single day of my life. As I think they did love Sandra, with that same strong love, until they passed away.

I would recommend that, if you have the time, you head to the VSAFF today. The quality of films they are showcasing is stellar, and the volunteer team is nothing short of spectacular. Super sweet, and the festival has been amazing. Thanks to the organizers for inviting me!