Skin
This sensitive drama from Anthony Fabian tells the remarkable true story of Sandra Laing, a black girl who was born to white Afrikaner parents in 1950’s South Africa. Due to a genetic throwback, Sandra’s hair is frizzier than that of her parents, and her skin darker. As her conservative father seeks to defend her mother from persistent accusations of infidelity, Sandra becomes embroiled in a series of legal battles to classify her race. Amazingly, The Laings’ campaign is successful and the dark-skinned Sarah is officially classified as white. She is legally entitled to attend a “white” school, sit in the “white” section in waiting rooms and dine in “white” restaurants. Her parents blankly ignore the stares from racist onlookers, and their policy of “reclassifying” their daughter appears to work, for a while.
But when one day Sandra falls in love with a black man, Petrus Zwane (Tony Kgoroge), her father’s old prejudices come to the fore with redoubled brutality, ripping the family apart. Meanwhile, Sandra is forced to question her own existence and identity, burdened with a sense of unbelonging wherever she goes.
Sophie Okonedo gives a powerful, measured performance as the adult Sandra, whose quiet courage sustains her in an existence characterised by uncertainty. Playing her parents and strong supporters of the apartheid regime, Alice Krige and Sam Neill sensitively portray their initial sense of disorientation associated with the birth of their child, as well as the internal struggle of balancing their long-held beliefs about race with the natural love they have for their daughter.
