skin movie review south africa

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, cry, the beloved daughter: the black child of white parents.

Now streaming on:

I remember the story of Sandra Laing. I lived in Cape Town during 1965, the year this film begins, and it was all over the South African newspapers. Sandra was the daughter of white Afrikaners, the descendents of the country's original Dutch settlers.

There was no question they were her parents. But she didn't look white. Still, they cherished her and were proud of her. She was bright as a button. They enrolled her in school, and there was trouble. The white parents didn't want their children going to school with a black girl. Given the insanity of the apartheid system, it was unthinkable that white parents could have a black child. Her parents reassure her: Of course she's white.

As "Skin" begins, they run a little shop with a black clientele, but that doesn't make them liberal. When Sannie Laing ( Alice Krige ) gets too friendly with the customers, her husband Abraham ( Sam Neill ) tells her, "Be friendly with them but don't adopt them!"

He's outraged by any suggestion of African blood in his family. Sandra looks "coloured" to the people white and black who see her, but not to her parents. He fights all the way to the Supreme Court to have Sandra officially classified as white. Among his witnesses is a geneticist from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, who testifies, "many and perhaps most Afrikaners have some non-white blood."

This was a very touchy subject in South Africa. I was aware of an Afrikaner student who hit another student when he was offered a pencil. That was an unmistakable reference to the infamous "pencil test": Stick a pencil through your hair and shake your head. The pencil will usually fall out of white hair, but not from black.

From being a cheerful child, Sandra now grows into a troubled adolescent ( Sophie Okonedo ) who tries to bleach her skin. Her parents set up two disastrous dates with white boys. She falls in love with Petrus ( Tony Kgoroge ), a young market gardener who is black, and her father chases him away with a rifle. Pregnant, she runs away from home, but now since she is officially considered white, it is a crime under apartheid for her to live with a black man.

The story of Sandra Laing (her real name) played out into the 1970s, and fascinated South Africa like no other. It cut directly into the official fiction that the races were separate and would never meet. She was proof that they'd been meeting a lot in the 400 years since the Dutch landed at Cape Town.

Sophie Okonedo you may remember from " Hotel Rwanda " (2004), which won her an Oscar nomination. Born in London of a white mother and African father (which is very relevant here), she was in " Dirty Pretty Things " (2002) and " The Secret Life of Bees " (2008) -- remember the childlike May Boatwright? -- and has completed the title role in "Mrs. Mandela."

Here she's magnificent, convincingly spanning Sandra's ages from 16 into adulthood, and her buffeting by a society where race dictated who you could love, where you could live, how you could work, whether you could study and who society thought you were. Consider how she handles a scene where she applies to the same clerk who issued her a "white card" and now demands a "black card." Her very existence reveals her society is based on no more than a piece of paper.

This great film by Anthony Fabian tells this story through the eyes of a happy girl who grows into an outsider. This isn't one of those potted stories of uplift and doesn't end quite the way we expect, although we do get to see the real Sandra Laing right at the end. It's not giving away anything to say the film's first scene takes place on the day that South Africa elected Nelson Mandela as its first African president. Sandra is cornered by a TV crew that asks for her reaction. She says, "It comes too late for me."

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Sleeping Dogs

Brian tallerico.

The Greatest Hits

Matt zoller seitz.

Dad & Step-Dad

Carlos aguilar.

On the Adamant

Peter sobczynski.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Wicked Little Letters

Sheila o'malley, film credits.

Skin (2009)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some violence and sexuality

107 minutes

Sophie Okonedo as Sandra

Sam Neill as Abraham

Alice Krige as Sannie

Tony Kgoroge as Petrus

Ella Ramangwane as Young Sandra

Directed by

• Anthony Fabian
• Helen Crawley
• Jessie Keyt
• Helena Kriel

Latest blog posts

A Plea for Someone to Save Megalopolis

The End of the World is Going to be Weird on Prime Video’s Quirky, Clever Adaptation of Fallout

The Zellner Brothers Take a Walk in the Woods with Sasquatch Sunset

The Scene That Clint Eastwood Cut to Make Unforgiven a Classic

Advertisement

Supported by

Movie Review | 'Skin'

White to Colored and Back Again in Apartheid’s Maze

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

• Oct. 29, 2009

“Skin” is a fictionalized retelling of the true and terrible story of Sandra Laing, a South African woman whose race was classified and reclassified by the government, then in the mad grip of apartheid. Born in 1955 to officially white parents, Ms. Laing — played by an uncharacteristically unsteady Sophie Okonedo — was judged white. But when the child entered the larger world, her darker skin, and especially her tightly curled black hair, marked her as different. At 10, she was dragged out of school by the police because the principal had decided she wasn’t white. The government agreed and relabeled her “colored.”

Much of the film unfolds in a lengthy flashback that opens in the mid-1960s, when the young Sandra (played by Ella Ramangwane) is still living in her rural home with her parents and older brother, Leon (Hannes Brummer). Her father, Abraham (Sam Neill, wound too tight), and mother, Sannie (an effective Alice Krige), run a grocery store for blacks. A passionate supporter of the government and its policies, Abraham insists that his black customers put their money on the counter, presumably to avoid physical contact. Sannie seems more tolerant, though she’s under the patriarchal heel. They’re loving parents, demonstrably fond of their children, whose physical differences (Leon has a lighter complexion) they don’t appear to acknowledge or even see until after they drop Sandra off at an all-white boarding school.

It’s as if they had dropped a bomb at the school — and into their own lives — rather than a child. A chain of grotesque events ensues, each seemingly more improbable than the next, though often drawn from Ms. Laing’s life. Sandra, who had grown up believing she was white, becomes a pariah, forced out of school, then out of her presumed race and finally her home. Shunned by whites, she melts into the segregated shantytowns, having taken up with a vegetable seller, Petrus (Tony Kgoroge, delivering the best performance in the film), whose smile grows dim. Heartache follows heartache as Sandra, who had been reclassified as white after a court trial, later tries to have herself racially recategorized so she can keep her family with Petrus intact.

Ms. Laing’s story has been told previously, before and after the abolition of apartheid, in various newspaper reports, a documentary and the recent biography “When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race.” It’s no wonder: it’s an emblematic tale of a woman whose body became a kind of tablet on which racist laws were inscribed. Her skin, her nose, her lips were all scrutinized. At one point in “Skin,” a man sticks a pencil into the young Sandra’s short hair, a re-creation of the “pencil test” used by some government boards to judge race. If the pencil stayed in, the person was deemed black.

Written by Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt and Helena Kriel, and directed by Anthony Fabian (who also has a credit for the screen story), “Skin” is sincere and well meaning and tries very, very hard to wring your tears. What a mistake! Crying at the movies can be one of the pleasures in life, like sobbing over a book that has delivered a dagger right to the heart. But Ms. Laing’s story is a tragedy, not a melodrama, and it doesn’t need to be goosed — nor do we. We don’t need overwrought performances to understand the calamity of her life or to weep when her parents turn their backs on her. If anything, the story demands restraint because, invariably at the movies, it’s the gentle touch that hits harder.

Alas, Mr. Fabian, directing his first feature-length fiction film, uses a club whenever a feather would do. He also mishandles the actors, in particular Mr. Neill and Ms. Okonedo, both of whom have been incomparably better elsewhere. As the heavy, Mr. Neill tends to turn the volume up far too loud, so you can really hear the script’s weaknesses. The usually charismatic Ms. Okonedo, in turn, shoulders hunched and eyes often downcast, gives a performance so recessive she almost slips off the screen. She might make you tear up. But if you want an honest cry, stay for the final credits to watch some footage of the real Ms. Laing as a child, happily and innocently tucked in the embrace of the family that betrayed her.

“Skin” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned), more for emotional than for physical violence.

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed by Anthony Fabian; written by Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt and Helena Kriel, based on the book “When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race” by Judith Stone; screen story by Mr. Fabian; directors of photography, Dewald Aukema and Jonathan Partridge; edited by St. John O’Rorke; music by Hélène Muddiman; production designer, Billy Keam; produced by Mr. Fabian, Genevieve Hofmeyr and Margaret Matheson; released by the Little Film Company. At Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema, 139-143 East Houston Street, East Village. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes.

WITH: Sophie Okonedo (Sandra Laing), Sam Neill (Abraham Laing), Alice Krige (Sannie Laing), Ella Ramangwane (Young Sandra), Hannes Brummer (Leon Laing) and Tony Kgoroge (Petrus Zwane).

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig have wound in and out of each other’s lives and careers for decades. Now they are both headlining an Apple TV+ comedy of wealth and status .

Nicholas Galitzine, known for playing princes and their modern equivalents, hopes his steamy new drama, “Mary & George,” will change how Hollywood sees him .

Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth met while filming “Fargo” in 2017. Now married, they have reunited onscreen in “A Gentleman in Moscow.”

A reboot of “Gladiators,” the musclebound 1990s staple, has attracted millions of viewers in Britain. Is appointment television back ?

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

‘Skin’: a family divided by race

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

There is a pivotal scene in “Skin,” a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story plucked out of the mess of South Africa’s apartheid, when young Sandra Laing’s father shouts the good news to the family -- “She’s white again.” Surreal and ironic, the moment captures the sensibility of this ambitious if sometimes uneven indie film with its eye always on the larger issues of race to be found within one unusual life.

Those three simple words turn out to be anything but good news for the dark-skinned Sandy, who was classified white at birth, then reclassified “colored” (mixed race) when she was about 10, then classified white once more a few years later, which is the moment captured by that scene.

But Sandy’s loss was, in a sense, the filmmaker’s gain, handing him a racial story that unfolds in stark black and white terms -- literally and metaphorically -- with the film tracing the attitudes and government edicts, medical tests and court suits, confusion and heartbreak that would batter Sandra, now 54 and still carrying the scars of her experience.

Portrayed by the fine British actress Sophie Okonedo (“Hotel Rwanda”) as the teenager and adult, with a delightful Ella Ramangwane as the child, we see Sandy grapple with the “what are you?” question as much as those around her, struggling to find her place.

The story begins after the Population Registration Act of 1950, which classified all South Africans by race and made any mingling between the races illegal. Her parents were white Afrikaners: Abraham, an avowed nationalist played with rigid force by Sam Neill, and Alice Krige, as a mother torn. Their oldest child, Leon, was white. Then, because of regressive black genes it would take scientific advancements to eventually figure out, came Sandra, with all the characteristics of a black child, and later brother Adriaan, also black.

Sandy’s color wouldn’t initially pose a problem for the family, though there are hints that Abraham wasn’t initially convinced the child was his (remember, this is long before the age of DNA testing). But when she was 10 and sent off to boarding school, the real world reared its ugly head. Suddenly the precocious little girl her father called “my angel” was ostracized by her classmates, caned by her teachers and finally kicked out of school and reclassified as colored. Abraham’s fight to force the system to change her race back to white, and the ripple effects of that battle, shape Sandy’s life and the rest of the film.

It is easy to see that director Anthony Fabian, who has long made his home in London, has roots in the documentary world (his first, 2001’s “Township Opera,” was also set in South Africa); it is there in the authentic look of the film, which re-creates the essence of the country from the ‘50s through the ‘90s, to the precision with which he lays out the facts of Sandy’s case. But those documentarian genes also haunt “Skin,” Fabian’s first feature, which at times divides its allegiance to events and the emotions surrounding them.

“Skin” opens with the exuberance of 1994’s free elections, apartheid over. Sandy is a media sensation again as she had been when her case was argued years earlier. But estranged from her white family for years with a life firmly tied to the black community, it has come too late for her.

Then the director takes us down the long road that has gotten her to this place: her sheltered early childhood, her coming of age and the increasingly dark shadow of race on her life. Most bitter for Sandy is the father who loves her but slips her skin-lightening lotion, has her jailed when she becomes involved with a black man, and ultimately disowns her. Krige is the mother who eventually bends to her husband’s will.

Neill and Krige do a yeoman’s job of not quite letting their characters turn into monsters, though Neill dances close to the line, with Okonedo using her body to great effect to absorb each rejection they dole out. But too many of the characters are either good or bad, and that loss of nuance is missed.

In a day when it’s difficult to say something new about the racial divide, Sandy’s story has a poignant power as it underscores just how deeply the fissures run even when it’s all in the family. Abraham remained immovable in his belief the races should be segregated, just as his children remained “white” because a birth certificate deemed it so. Once he disowned her, Sandy never saw her father again. She reconnected with her mother only after his death and when her mother was nearing hers. Her brothers remain estranged. And race remains an issue.

[email protected]

MPAA rating: PG-13 for thematic material, some violence and sexuality

Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes

Playing: At the Landmark, West L.A., and Laemmle’s Town & Country Cinemas, Encino

More to Read

Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant are reuniting for fourth ‘Bridget Jones’ movie

April 10, 2024

Theresa Randle not returning for new ‘Bad Boys’ movie as Tasha Smith takes up role

May 5, 2023

Hollywood said ‘nobody cared’ about women’s sports. Luckily, Sue Bird didn’t listen

March 28, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Former Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey is an award-winning entertainment journalist and bestselling author. She left the newsroom in 2015. In addition to her critical essays and reviews of about 200 films a year for The Times, Sharkey’s weekly movie reviews appeared in newspapers nationally and internationally. Her books include collaborations with Oscar-winning actresses Faye Dunaway on “Looking for Gatsby” and Marlee Matlin on “I’ll Scream Later.” Sharkey holds a degree in journalism and a master’s in communications theory from Texas Christian University.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Company Town

Margot Robbie boards Lionsgate and Hasbro’s ‘Monopoly’ movie as producer

‘Joker 2’ trailer: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga lead twisted, musical fever dream

‘The Beast’ explores the heart of loneliness, in Los Angeles and beyond

Billy Dee Williams approves actors using blackface for work: ‘Why not? You should do it’

April 9, 2024

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

T his quietly intelligent drama, based on a true story, finds a new way of dramatising race, class and society in apartheid-era South Africa, and it boasts fine performances by Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill and Alice Krige as a family whose refusal to conform was either heroic or tragi-comic or merely dysfunctional. Or perhaps all three.

Okonedo plays Sandra Laing, born in the early 1960s to pillars of the white Afrikaner community: Abraham Laing (Neill) and Sannie Laing (Krige). Sandra is dark-skinned, corresponding to what at the time was known as "coloured". Furious at persistent whispers that his wife must have been unfaithful, Abraham takes a blood test to prove paternity and launches a court action to prove that due to a Mendelian quirk, buried black ancestry in white parents can turn up in one's children.

His legal battle to classify his child as "white" is as sensational as that undertaken by the father in Rattigan's The Winslow Boy. But it is successful. Sandra is legally entitled to go to "white" schools, sit in the "white" section in waiting rooms and dine in "white" restaurants. The parents serenely ignore the pop-eyed double-takes of local racists and encourage their daughter to do the same. For a while, it almost works. Are they in denial? Or is their "reclassification" an inspired way of challenging not merely racism but the monolithic concept of race itself?

Either way, Abraham's stand looks less glorious when Sandra falls in love with a black man, Petrus Zwane (Tony Kgoroge). Abraham is livid and his "white" daughter's love affair has a kind of topsy-turvy Romeo-and-Juliet quality. The father's rage and anguish tears the family apart. Sandra becomes marginalised from her own existence, unable to believe in herself as black, white or anything else. But her quiet courage is moving and this has the painful clarity of something drawn from real life.

• Period and historical films
• Drama films

Most viewed

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

2008 Directed by Anthony Fabian

Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Sophie Okonedo Alice Krige Sam Neill Terri Ann Eckstein Bongani Masondo Dan Robbertse Jeremy Crutchley Tony Kgoroge Ella Ramangwane

Director Director

Anthony Fabian

Writers Writers

Helena Kriel Anthony Fabian Jessie Keyt Helen Crawley

Elysian Films Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa The National Film and Video Foundation of SA

South Africa UK

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Zulu

Releases by Date

• Theatrical limited

07 Sep 2008

01 oct 2008, 03 nov 2008, 24 jul 2009, 30 oct 2009, 25 jan 2011, releases by country.

• Theatrical limited Toronto International Film Festival
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical limited AFI Fest
• Theatrical PG-13

107 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★★★

This is the best film I've seen in a very long time. Sophie Okonedo gives a tour-de-force performance as the daughter of two white parents in South Africa during the apartheid era which lasted from 1958-1994 (Wikipedia says 1991, but not everyone was allowed to participate in the elections until 1994).

The film was incredibly effective, capturing the level of racism and hostility toward children. Sophie Okonedo's character Sandra Laing grows up in a world where everything is unnecessarily complicated. Alice Krige and Sam Neill portray her loving parents, but unfortunately the system sought to destroy their bond.

Definitely recommended.

Vegan alert: One of Sandra's white suitors said their father chops a rooster every Sunday and he talked about how to hypnotize a chicken.

Review by The String Bean Slinger ★★★ 5

My dumb ass watched the wrong movie named ‘Skin’ for my theology class yesterday.

Review by CalvinLaw ★★★★

 2009 Ranking

Directed with a somewhat workmanlike fashion, but the power of the true story behind it carries it through, with painful results, rightfully so as we follow the life of Sandra Laing, a South African woman classified as 'coloured' and born to white parents, and the tough journey and visceral hate and hypocrisies she encounters. Sophie Okonedo, as per usual, is blisteringly effective and powerful as Laing, and there's some fine supporting work by the likes of Sam Neill and Alice Kris. Not an easy watch but it is a good film.

Review by Matt_Samahl ★★½

Sophie Okonedo is supposed to be underage in this movie at one point yet she was 40 when they made this.. that's really stretching it guys!

I never knew Sam Neill could play such an asshole, i really despised him in this movie!

This movie is okay but if you want to see a great african drama i recommend Hotel Rwanda, also starring Sophie Okonedo.

Review by Gilbert C. Moore ★★★

One of those overtly melodramatic race biopics that are infinitely less interesting than the true story that inspired it. Still, decent and well performed up until the final act; which might've well been edited in a power blender.

Review by LouisMorgan ★★★½

A painful film on the most immediate surface of a dark-skinned daughter in South Africa finding that her white parents' attempts for her to be treated equally in the racist system has nothing to do with any progressive beliefs on their part, but just because it's their daughter. This becomes immediately clear when they become disgusted that she takes an interest in a native African man. Of course, even this is not some way to happiness as even this man becomes abusive at a certain point. I detail all this because it is a brutal true story, and power just within the injustice our central protagonist faces. But, despite being well acted, however, it is only adequately directed, never quite distinguishing itself as something more than what is already inherent within the piece. It doesn't diminish either to be fair, and that means it is a good film, even if the content suggests the potential for a great one. 

Review by Varghese ★★★½

The comparisons to the superlative Hotel Rwanda are inevitable but that does not make it any less compelling.

Review by chiara ★★★★

my mixed dad said that this was his joker

Review by maja ★★★

I liked it when Sophie Okonedo, aged 39, played a 17yo

Review by Caryn Welby-Solomon ★★

I first heard the Sandra Laing story in history class and it has always interested me. But I was not impressed with this. 

1. Alice Krige being the only main actor who is South African? 2. Sophie Okonedo playing a teenager when she is in her late 30s? 3. The very one-dimensional acting? 4. Why so many scenes of Sandra eavesdropping at doorways? Surely there are more creative ways of telling a story. 5. This is very much like melodramatic biopic that was popular in the 80s and feels wholely outdated

Review by Brad Henderson ★★★★

Sophie Okonedo is fast becoming my fave British actress. 

Generally a biographical drama about a young black woman in South Africa born to White Afrikaners. A rare situation of this actually did happen during the apartheid era beginning in 1960’s to 1990’s . Polygenetic inheritances. 

Situation causing many conflicts with schooling, relationships and trying to belong in a very racist country at the time.

Review by Brendan Wahl ★★★★

100 AFRICAN-AMERICAN MOVIES YOU SHOULD SEE (#43)

I love discovering a film for the first time especially when I had no pre-conceived notions whatsoever regarding what this film was about nor the real-life person behind its story. "Skin" tells the tale of a young black lady born to two white Afrikaan parents. This is apparently very rare but possible and because I don't want to make myself sound like an ignorant white dude, I won't even attempt to explain the science for fear of coming anywhere close to the horrible doctors/scientists in this film.

Once you get the gist of the film's plot you can seemingly map out where it will go beat-by-beat. However, this movie doesn't follow the simplest…

Select your preferred poster

• Jour de Fête Films

Summary Skin is one of the most moving stories to emerge from apartheid South Africa: Sandra Laing is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her up as their ‘white’ little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is d ... Read More

Directed By : Anthony Fabian

Written By : Helen Crawley, Jessie Keyt, Helena Kriel, Anthony Fabian

Where to Watch

Sophie Okonedo

Sandra laing.

Abraham Laing

Alice Krige

Sannie laing.

Tony Kgoroge

Petrus zwane, ella ramangwane, young sandra, terri ann eckstein, elsie laing (aged 19), bongani masondo, henry laing (aged 20), dan robbertse, factory foreman, jeremy crutchley, hugh johnston, jonathan taylor, tv sound recordist, nomathamsanga baleka, factory worker 1, valesika smith, factory worker 2, faniswa yisa, nora molefe, hannes brummer, zamanthebe sithebe, young thembi, onida cowan, miss van uys, leana truitsman, lauren das neves, jacques gombault, teacher saying grace, danny keogh, critic reviews.

• All Reviews
• Positive Reviews
• Mixed Reviews
• Negative Reviews

User Reviews

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Related Movies

Lawrence of Arabia (re-release)

The Passion of Joan of Arc

My Left Foot

12 Years a Slave

The Social Network

Schindler's List

The Irishman

The Wild Child

We Were Here

Reversal of Fortune

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Act of Killing

The Look of Silence

Related News

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Jason dietz.

Find release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated weekly.

April Movie Preview (2024)

Keith kimbell.

The month ahead will bring new films from Alex Garland, Luca Guadagnino, Dev Patel, and more. To help you plan your moviegoing options, our editors have selected the most notable films releasing in April 2024, listed in alphabetical order.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

SXSW 2024 Recap: Best and Worst Films

Which films impressed reviewers during the 2024 edition of the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival? We recap the reactions of critics to all of this year's major SXSW premieres and tell you which titles won the festival's major awards.

Every Denis Villeneuve Movie, Ranked

Before French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve earned the attention of sci-fi fans with excellent Dune and Blade Runner films, he made a name for himself with crime thrillers and indie dramas. Here, we rank every one of his films to date from worst to best by Metascore.

• COMING SOON
• OUT NOW - US
• COMING SOON - US

• COMPETITIONS

Eye For Film >> Movies >> Skin (2008) Film Review

Reviewed by: Jennie Kermode

What does the colour of a person's skin really mean? "Nothing," many people would say today, but that negates the vast difference in life experience which it can bring about. It's the reason why social scientists still monitor race even though they don't believe it's of any biological significance. Back in Apartheid-era South Africa, skin colour was a crucial factor in shaping a person's destiny, and this film, based on a true story, demonstrates more clearly than ever just how arbitrary that was.

Sandra Laing was a bright, pretty, but otherwise ordinary girl who grew up with her family in a quiet rural area. That might have been the whole of the story, except that Sandra's parents were pale skinned, of European descent, whilst her skin was dark. Her father had to fight to change the law so that she could be classified on the basis of heritage rather than appearance and so keep her white privileges, but nothing he could do could change the way she was perceived and treated by other people, nor the way that she experienced herself within a landscape of privilege and stigma which her very existence rendered nonsensical.

This film opens with Sandra as a child, beautifully played by Ella Ramangwane, who manages to make her both sympathetic and appropriately resentful as her world suddenly collapses. Sam Neill disappears into the role of her father, a man whose deep affection for his family is undermined by a lingering mistrust of his wife and increasing resentment of his daughter's conflicted identity. He's matched by the ever-reliable Alice Krige as Sandra's mother, whose desire to take the girl's side often comes into conflict with her instinct to protect her from suffering, and who, in that environment, is not without prejudice of her own. There are some really creepy scenes in Sandra's school as a class of white children is taught to think of blacks as inferior. This puts into proper perspective the real horror of a fascist society which most of the rest of the world turned a blind eye to as recently as 25 years ago.

When Sandra reaches puberty, Sophie Okonedo takes over. She's an excellent choice for the role, with her finely chiselled features appropriately ambiguous and her naturally distanced manner fitting for a woman who fits in nowhere. She brings an impressive sense of consistency to a story which unfolds over many years, convincing at each different age. Her Sandra is someone who knows she isn't really wanted or respected by white men but for whom all Hell breaks loose when she falls for a black man. He's attractive partly because he seems to understand her, but of course, in the end, that's not as simple as it might have seemed, and his resentment at the life he is forced to lead under Apartheid turns into resentment at this woman who "can always go home".

As a biopic, the film is somewhat uneven. In its later stages it substitutes sentiment for real character exploration, and there are many aspects of Sandra's life which we don't learn much about, such as the nature of her relationship with her children, which is glimpsed only briefly. As a personal story leading into a much larger one, about what Apartheid meant for human beings trying to get by in an otherwise beautiful country and modern society, it's much more successful.

For me personally, as a former campaigner, it was something special to see the introductory note explaining what Apartheid was for young audience members who may not have heard of it. Even for those who remember it well, this is an insightful and informative film, a cautionary tale illustrating the complex nature of socially ingrained prejudice. Skin colour shouldn't matter, but there's no denying that it still shapes lives today.

Director: Anthony Fabian

Writer: Helen Crawley, Anthony Fabian

Starring: Sophie Okonedo, Alice Krige, Sam Neill, Tony Kgoroge, Ella Ramangwane

Runtime: 107 minutes

Country: UK, South Africa

Search database:

If you like this, try:

• News & Features

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Common sense media reviewers.

Intense family drama about race, identity during apartheid.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie offers the powerful message that strengt

Sandra is strong and hopeful despite setbacks. She

Several disturbing scenes of bigotry. A teacher us

A half-dressed man caresses a fully clothed woman.

A man calls a woman a “bitch” after sh

A man drinks beer at home.

Parents need to know that Skin is a complicated drama about racial politics and family relationships that follows a girl born to white parents but who has a dark complexion and black features. Set in South Africa during apartheid, the film deals with heavy and complicated themes that younger children may not…

Positive Messages

The movie offers the powerful message that strength can be found from within. But it also suggests that while parents may be well-meaning, they don’t always do the right thing and are sometimes too weak to fight an entrenched, unjust society.

Positive Role Models

Sandra is strong and hopeful despite setbacks. She clearly knows who she is, which sees her through good times and bad. Her parents are more complicated figures, whose decisions are sometimes based on fear.

Violence & Scariness

Several disturbing scenes of bigotry. A teacher uses corporal punishment in the classroom. A man arms himself with a gun to protect his family. A child rubs bleach all over herself in an attempt to make her skin whiter. A mother slaps her daughter. A man fires a gun at another man, who is later beaten by cops. A ritual involves cutting a baby’s skin. A man breaks a car window and menacingly touches his wife. Cops ransack and raze a village. A man beats his wife.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A half-dressed man caresses a fully clothed woman. Lovers are shown lounging in bed under covers, their shoulders bare.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A man calls a woman a “bitch” after she resists his unwanted advances.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Skin is a complicated drama about racial politics and family relationships that follows a girl born to white parents but who has a dark complexion and black features. Set in South Africa during apartheid, the film deals with heavy and complicated themes that younger children may not quite grasp. But teens will appreciate the message -- that identity is much more than just skin deep. Expect scenes of explicit bigotry and some racially motivated violence. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

A white family in 1950s South Africa, unfamiliar with their own mixed-race ancestry, is shocked when their dark-complexioned daughter is "re-classified" as a black person at a time when apartheid was the law, only to have that decision reversed once more. But as a teenager, Sandra ( Sophie Okonedo ) grows tired of the bigotry and challenges the system once more when she falls for, and elopes with, a black man. Much to her dismay, her father ( Sam Neill ), who harbors prejudices of his own, reports them to the police, who arrest them. Finding herself at a juncture, Sandra makes a decision that estranges her from her family. But her fight to define herself beyond the color of her skin, whether considered black or white, continues long after.

Is It Any Good?

If a film's ability to perturb audiences is an indication of how good it is, then SKIN is superb, indeed. It's told with alarming straightforwardness, which only serves to heighten the horror of the bigotry that unfolds onscreen. But what makes it even better is how it anchors the politics and history with human emotions, allowing viewers to feel just what it's like to walk in Sandra's shoes -- how enraging it must have been to be discriminated against; how confusing it must have been to discover that the those who have always protected you, your parents, can harbor such tragically limited ideas about race; and how isolating it must be to hear the man you love condemn a group of people with whom you also identify, and worse.

The film does have its problems, including slack pacing and uninspired storytelling that sometimes robs it of suspense and drama. But neither one is critical enough to scar.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about apartheid. What do you think about this policy of institutionalized racism? How does it compare to periods of U.S. history?

How does Sandra's story illustrate the complicated definition of race? What kinds of questions does her story bring up?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 30, 2009
• On DVD or streaming : February 1, 2011
• Cast : Alice Krige , Sam Neill , Sophie Okonedo
• Director : Anthony Fabian
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : Entertainment One
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 107 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : thematic material, some violence and sexuality
• Last updated : June 20, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Do the Right Thing

Gran Torino

Great movies with black characters.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Movie Review: “SKIN”

A powerful and poignant drama based on real events, “Skin” is the true story of a black child born in the 50s to white parents in apartheid South Africa.

Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is distinctly black — in appearance at least — despite the fact that both her parents, Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie (Alice Krige) are white Afrikaners.  

Store owners in a remote area of Eastern Transvaal, South Africa, Abraham and Sannie are unaware of their own individual black genetics and have lovingly raised Sandra as their white little girl. Things soon drastically change when she is sent to an all white boarding school in the neighboring town of Piet Retief.

Ridiculed and shunned by her classmates, she’s finally examined by State officials after several complaints pour in from other parents and teachers. After being classified as ‘colored,’ she is expelled from the school and the story soon becomes an international scandal as her parents tackle the Supreme Court to have the classification reversed.

The movie follows Sandra’s thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation as she struggles to find a footing in a prejudiced world. Desperate to resemble her parents and brother Leon (Hannes Brummer), she even attempts to scrub her skin white by using household cleaners when lightening creams fail.

With scenes carefully structured to tug at heart strings, particularly poignant is the test State officials perform to ascertain Sandra’s race. This involves seeing if a pencil delicately placed in her curly hair would fall out with a slight headshake.

Okonedo (“Hotel Rwanda ” ) puts on a breathtaking performance as an older Sandra whilst the younger Sandra is beautifully played by Ella Ramangwane.

A heartbreaking drama, “Skin” is one of the most moving stories to emerge from apartheid-era South Africa and has already won numerous accolades.

“Skin ” releases in theatres October 30

Samantha Ofole-Prince is an entertainment journalist based in Los Angeles and can be reached on [email protected]

Picture Credits 1. Sophie Okonedo as Sandra Laing in Skin 2. Sannie, Sandra, Abraham in Skin (Credit: Umberto Adagg)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• 2024 Sexiest Men Of the Moment
• Of The Essence
• Celebrity News
• If Not For My Girls
• The State Of R&B
• Time Of Essence
• SSENSE X ESSENCE
• 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
• 2023 Fashion House
• Fashion News
• Accessories
• 2024 Best In Beauty Awards
• Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
• Relationships
• Bridal Bliss
• Lifestyle News
• Health & Wellness
• ESSENCE Eats
• Food & Drink
• Money & Career
• Latest News
• Black Futures
• Paint The Polls Black
• Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
• 2024 Black Women In Hollywood
• 2024 ESSENCE Hollywood House
• 2024 ESSENCE Film Festival
• 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
• 2023 Wellness House
• 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
• Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for essence newsletters the keep the black women at the forefront of conversation., sandra laing talks about race and her film 'skin'.

COMPANY INFORMATION Our Company Customer Service Essence Ventures Change Your Address Contact Us Job Opportunities Internships Media Kit SUBSCRIBE Newsletters Give a Gift of ESSENCE Magazine Tablet Edition FOLLOW US MORE ON ESSENCE Home Love Celebrity Beauty Hair Fashion ESSENCE festival ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

About this movie

Ratings and reviews.

• Flag inappropriate
• Show review history

Rate this movie

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

• Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
• The true story of Sandra Laing (Okonedo), a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her up as their 'white' little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out of white society. The film follows her thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her place in a changing world.
• 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 Sandras 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 doesnt belong. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as Coloured, and expelled from the school. Sandras 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 husbands rage and her daughters 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.

Contribute to this page

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore.

Recently viewed

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Civil War Link to Civil War
• Monkey Man Link to Monkey Man
• The First Omen Link to The First Omen

New TV Tonight

• Chucky: Season 3
• Fallout: Season 1
• Mr Bates vs The Post Office: Season 1
• Franklin: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Dora: Season 1
• Good Times: Season 1
• Beacon 23: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• Ripley: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• The Gentlemen: Season 1
• The Regime: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Fallout Link to Fallout
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

CinemaCon 2024: Day 2 – Universal Showcases Nosferatu , Twisters , Wicked , and More

Fallout First Reviews: A ‘Violent, Fun, Emotional, Epic’ Video Game Adaptation, Critics Say

• Trending on RT
• Play Movie Trivia

Skin Reviews

For a story steeped in such personal and cultural drama, the telling of it was strangely the opposite, keeping the audience at a distance and robbing the story, one really worth telling, of impact.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 12, 2019

There's something of a happy ending to this tortuous tale, but it's not completely satisfying.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 1, 2018

Sophie Okonedo beautifully portrays Laing as a confused and scared young woman who's forced to choose a color line, but not without her share of heartache and pain.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Sep 12, 2017

Intense family drama about race, identity during apartheid.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 17, 2011

The most remarkable elements of the true story of Sandra Laing survive intact, despite a rather unremarkable bigscreen retelling of her life.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2010

While it's important we never forget the horrendous evils of humanities past, Skin is sadly one social studies class too many.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 8, 2010

Something akin to a Sunday afternoon TV movie of the week.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 4, 2010

The storytelling maybe undistinguished but the performances power it.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2010

Performances are impeccable, and location shooting in South Africa adds to the power of an impressive true story.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 21, 2010

While conventionally told, this thought-provoking film features deeply moving performances and compels audiences to consider the issues it raises.

Full Review | Jul 19, 2010

An extraordinary story, one that only real life could invent... You won't forget this film in a hurry

Full Review | Jul 16, 2010

A haunting film that tells its unforgettable tale about a coloured girl, born to white parents in South Africa, with simplicity and heartfelt sentiment

Based on a true story, Skin follows the life of a black-skinned girl born to white Afrikaners in a society where segregation is stronger than family.

Full Review | Mar 25, 2010

Laing's life, despite its inherent melodrama, does not automatically lend itself to the screen. And without the aid of a smart script or a prevailing sense of delicacy, a movie about her or apartheid risks being a blunt instrument.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 14, 2010

From an increasingly vibrant cinema about South Africa.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 13, 2010

Once the absurdity of the situation has been accepted, the film plays out like a made for television docu drama, with Sandra constantly challenged and overcoming...

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 3, 2010

Provocative.

Full Review | Dec 15, 2009

Potent, still relevant and inspiring while maddening, Skin shows some of our best and much of our worst.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 11, 2009

Every emotion is underscored with sugary music, every narrative plot progression telegraphed with the mechanical structural stiffness of a made-for-TV movie.

Full Review | Dec 10, 2009

Great performances and a smart decision to avoid melodrama make Skin worth seeing but it's the small things that hold it back from being truly great.

Full Review | Nov 13, 2009

• Create Account
• Author's Statement

My Review of the South African movie Skin (2008)

March 14, 2023

The other day I watched a South African movie called Skin (2008). It's based on a true story about a white family giving birth Sandra, a child that has darker complexion and curlier hair than her Afrikaner parents. She already has an older brother who lighter skin and less curly hair.

At first, everyone minds their own business, but when the girl goes to boarding school she is beaten by the schoolmasters and kicked out because she makes the other students feel uncomfortable.

Then the authorities want to reclassify Sandra as "coloured," a non-offensive term used to categorize South African people of mixed descent (European, African, Indian, Indonesian, etc), but that would mean her parents would have to get reclassified as coloured too, and lose all of their de jure white privilege.

The father fights her status in the courts and a new precedent is set: any child born to white parents is classified as white, no matter what they look like. The parents are elated because they can carry on as they used to.

But as Sandra comes of age, she is not accepted as white by the community despite what the law says. She tries dating some white lads, who to their credit don't mind the way she appears, but heads turn everywhere they go and Sandra realizes she'll never be accepted.

She ends up getting pregnant by a Zulu man and elopes, causing her family to disown her. After the couple's second child, the family's shantytown gets bulldozed to make way for a white settlement. The husband's livelihood goes up in smoke, which leads him to alcoholism followed by domestic abuse.

Sandra leaves her husband and strikes out on her own, at one point making contact with her sympathetic mother in order to get her original birth certificate. Since Sandra is still white on paper, by having a baby with a black man, the kids are officially coloured. And by law, a white mother is not allowed to raise kids from a different racial category, hence the need to jump through the legal hoops.

Years later, as Apartheid winds down, Sandra has a renewed interest to connect back with her birth parents. They get the message and the dad is dying of cancer and wants to receive her daughter's forgiveness. The mom stops him saying that neither one of them deserves her forgiveness.

We fast forward to South African's first election of the new government, and the media takes interest in Sandra's life story. After dismissing the mobs, she takes it upon herself to find her mom, who is now living in a nursing home, recovering from a stroke, her father gone for seven years.

Mom gives her an inheritance and a small doll she played with as a kid, the only memory that survived her father's fiery purge of Sandra's photos and possessions. They make up best they can and we see Sandra opening up a tuck shop in a township to the cheerful approbation of the crowd.

The ending is bittersweet because at least Sandra is able to live the rest of her life in a free South Africa, but at the cost of being robbed of her family's love. It's plainly obvious that both Sandra and her family's ability to exist as they wanted was limited due to the structural racism in place at the time of Sandra's coming of age.

This movie is a great portrait of the most incoherent aspects of the Apartheid system, giving us a microcosm of how people were so badly limited by it. Generally speaking, whites and blacks lived apart and the whites generally believed that things were fine due to the lickspittle local media and that they lived miles from black homesteads, whereas the blacks suffered daily from the heavy hand of the South African police state.

Only when the two worlds are accidentally knit together due to a genetic abnormality do the various parties see the the racial atrocities play out in real time. Had Sandra been born as white as her folks, she would have been just as clueless as every other Afrikaner. Afrikaners (originally of white Dutch descent) are roughly 10% black due to 400 years of living together on a black continent so it's not out of the question for children to appear with less European features more frequently than not. Paternity tests at the time weren't nearly as effective as they are now, but a less conclusive blood test didn't disprove Sandra's father's paternity.

Here's what I learned from the movie: it wasn't just Sandra, but her entire family that were victims of Apartheid. At first glance, it appears that the father is the oppressor, the one who disowned his own daughter and threatened her lover, and no doubt the buck stops with Dad when it comes time to render primary blame on the family's breakup.

And no doubt the father was raised with prejudice just like so many others, but it was "livable." That is, he harbored disdain for blacks, but wasn't an active agent of Apartheid himself. Only after his family is threatened by the state do his worst tendencies come to head. When he discovers that his daughter is sleeping with a black man, he knows that the end game of that relationship would mean the dissolution of the family bond. If she were to have a baby with a Zulu, the grandparents would not be allowed to see baby even if Mom was allowed to raise it, nor would the mixed family be allowed by law to even share a meal together. Most likely one or both would be jailed for daring to love one another.

So instead of waiting for the state to act, the father nips the "problem" in the bud by throwing her out of the house and telling her daughter to never come back. Though cruel, it's no crueler than the state effecting the same type of dissolution once they learned of the unlawful miscegenation.

Had the Apartheid system not been in place, that is, had there not been laws governing freedom of association, things may have played out differently. Sure the father may not have liked having a Zulu son-in-law, but he most likely wouldn't have threatened to kill him, whose murder might have been condoned by the government considering the gravity of a black man sleeping with a white woman, a crime that would have charged the black man for rape just 30 or 40 years ago. Personally, I've seen many families balk at their sons' and daughters' choice of a mate, only to see their views soften over time as reality doesn't match their overwrought expectations, especially when a baby comes into the picture.

Since in the movie we see life both during Apartheid and afterward, we get a clear sense of how much better life is without the racist sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all who dared to challenge the system, but by no means does a new government instantly wipe away all of the crimes of the former days. That is, a new government, constitution and code of laws does not make everyone educated, richer and more full of love. But it does allow for its possibility even though the change can't happen overnight.

So now that a whole new generation or two have been born in raised in a post-Apartheid South Africa, we see the limits of dismantling the du jure racist structure that governed the land for nearly 50 years. That is, there's still a wide gap between the rich and the poor, there is not nearly as much education parity as one would want, and the government still reels in its inability to provide basic needs such as electricity for the whole of its population.

Though things are way better in terms of prosperity for huge numbers of South African blacks, that prosperity has yet to fan out to the masses, with many still living in shantytowns that too closely resemble the ones that Sandra lived in during the 1970s and 80s. However, spirit is willing: no one wants this inequality or lack of basic needs being met, it's just harder to achieve than it looks and throwing money at a problem does not often fix things as well as we wish it to.

The problems of South Africa are not unlike the ones in the United States where we have a middle-class of black folks that is a much larger percentage than it was before Civil Rights, but there are still real world aspects of the vestiges of that earlier system in place even though generations of people have now come and gone.

Obviously, it's in our best interest to figure out a way to right the wrongs of the past without lighting up the house in flames. You want more economic and educational equality because poor people have become more prosperous and educated as opposed to the kind of equality that comes about when everyone becomes dirt poor and all the schools shut down. Review Haiti 2023 for a current example of the worst kind of equality.

I'm sure that after coming together and properly consulting on the topics at hand and earnestly applying these plans without a whiff of political deceit, we'll get to a point where it not only works, but the rest of the world will adopt a similar problem-solving strategy that can be adapted for each country and culture's long-lasting issues of locally brewed racism, sexism, nationalism and so on.

For now, I do my best to educate myself on the exigencies of the day in part to manifest ways that I can help, but just as importantly, my education acts as a bulwark to the demagogues out there who want us to believe that their way is the best and that you are a bad person if you do not follow their method. At the root of a new problem-solving system, we must recognize that we are all spiritual beings, that we must cleave to a spiritual solution to our practical problems, and that any other method will only have short-term results or create so much antipathy that the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Once we're able to change the hearts, that is, we change the foundational principles that govern our thoughts and actions, we'll clearly see that what we are up against is no match for a united front of people who are guided by the same morality and penchant for justice.

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

• Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
• Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.
• Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

Customers also watched

Cast and Crew

Other formats

170 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Start Selling with Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices