Sophie Okonedo shines in lackluster biopic
Image Courtesy of IMPawards.com
Director: Anthony Fabian
Notable Cast: Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige
There are many significant events that have influenced film-makers over the years, and yet Apartheid hasn’t been used as a cinematic plot device as often as one would think. 2009 seems to have corrected that notion with three films that use it as a plot device. Sci-fi actioneer District 9 used it as an allegory and Invictus deals with Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup champion. Both of those dealt with Apartheid on the grander scale, but none of them dealt with it from the point of view of someone experiencing it firsthand. And that’s where Skin comes into play. The amount of time spent on perfecting the skin of the protagonist from head to toe to make the film more natural is a lot; see the before & after of skin bleaching process on her genital areas. The smaller scale of a woman caught between two races, the film is a standard biopic and nothing more.
Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo), was a white woman with a peculiar problem: she looked black. Born with traditional African characteristics in both skin and hair to parents without any heritage of the kind, the film is the story of her dealing with that very fact. Classified as white, and then black, Laing never fit into either the world of the blacks or the whites of South Africa. The film follows her life from childhood to late adulthood, following her trials and travails of being a white woman who looks black. The problem is that there’s no real reason to care.
Laing’s story is exceptional, dealing with prejudice in a country that institutionalized it, but the way it’s told isn’t. Anthony Fabian manages to dull down an interesting story into something that’s a cookie cutter biopic instead of a raw look at race relations in a volatile time in history. But he does do one good thing: get a great performance out of his lead actress.
Okonedo, an immensely talented actress, has found a niche role as an actress that can take smaller roles and make them seem more meaningful. She had smaller parts in Hotel Rwanda and The Secret Life of the Bees, managing to be some of the better parts in both of them. With a dramatic piece that has her in the lead she does wonders; this is a terrific, low key performance from an actress known for them.
Skin is a standard biopic, nothing more, but has a masterful performance from an actress getting a bigger part then normal.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):
