Skin.

So another movie on my must watch list is Skin.  I watched this one on my own and I had NO idea it was a true story until the very, very end!

According to the official movie website, "Skin is a film about ten year-old Sandra Laing.  She is distinctly AFrican looking, but her parents are white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry.  They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal (South Africa) 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 neighboring town, where her (white) brother 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."

The story continues and the film spans over 20 years of her life…but I don't want to spoil too much.  You can read even more about the Plot HERE.  And you can read an article about her HERE  - A Black Woman with White Parents.

This was a movie about identity - it was about a girl born to white Afrikaner parents…a girl who wasn't entirely white or entirely black… a girl who felt as though she didn't fit in anywhere.   White people says she's black and black people say she's white.  Can you imagine how confusing that would be??  and so very difficult…I truly cannot imagine!  

This is a trailer for the movie.

This is a video of the main character speaking about the film.