This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Can two white-looking people produce a darker-skinned baby?Anthony Fabian's "Skin" tells the fascinating story of Sandra Laing, a black South African woman who was born to white Afrikaner parents during apartheid in South Africa.Growing up, Sandra appears to have had a happy childhood. She does not appear to think she is different from her parents or older brother, who is also white; she resembles her family a great deal except for her skin color. When she is older, her parents send her and her brother to an exclusive school, for whites only of course. There, Sandra is finally aware that she is different. There are stares, mockery, whispers, and the assumption she does not now where Swaziland is (you'll understand this after you see the film).Her battles have just begun. She is constantly classified, unclassified, reclassified as white and colored, but Sandra has always felt white. Is she white? To someone in 2013, she would appear multiracial or even racially ambiguous, but, remember folks, this is South Africa in the 1950s.Fabian casts the brilliant British actress Sophie Okenedo in the role of Sandra. She is superior in this role, not just because of her raw talent, but her mixed Jewish, Scottish, and Nigerian heritage probably allowed her to form a closer bond with Laing and project her struggles. Okenedo is joined by former "Hotel Rwanda" costar Tony Kgoroge, Sam Neill and South African actress Alice Krige, who play her parents respectively.The Laings and society must deal with the reality of Sandra's skin color because it will not go away no matter what the "papers" say. She does find some happiness with the Black South African community, but it comes at a large price. What is Sandra? Who is Sandra? It's time to ask the inevitable questions. Did Sandra's mom have an affair with a nonwhite man? Is there a such thing as the throwback gene? Were there members of her family's who were or are even passing for white? I won't spoil it for you.Whatever your thoughts are, this is a movie worth seeing. A superior cast that demonstrates what all parties had to do for...survival.

This is a movie that tugs at your heart strings and brings the ugly truth of prejudice to light. Sandra is a strong women who fights through many battles and achieves more than can be expected. She is courageous despite the many obstacles that lie in her way. We all experience identity struggles as we grow up but Sandra's was above the norm and she faced it head on with dignity.Prejudice is the focus of the movie and how we as a people allow this to determine how and what we feel about one another. Just as in the movie Roots we see the struggle of the African American people, in the movie skin we are brought in on a more personal level as we see the internal struggle of one girl as she grows into a women looking for acceptance and love. The question is where will she find it.Sophie Okonedo portrays the character of Sandra with touching and emotional quality. Her facial expressions bring you into her heart without a word being said. The soft lighting and grainy texture of the film bring the conflict and emotion out of the screen and into your living room. This is a must see movie.

I finally saw "Skin" last night. I won't recap the story here. I was fascinated by Sandra Liang's heartbreaking experience, but I missed the movie in the theatre. The actors – Neill, Krige, Okonedo and Kgoroge – performed their roles well. The film, overall, is not perfect. I agree that Sophie Okonedo was not completely believable as the teenage Sandra Laing, but that's a small quibble given Okonedo's gargantuan talent.What really saddens me is that so many people are more concerned with debunking the notion that two white-looking people can (biologically) produce a black-looking child than with South Africa's brutal, hateful apartheid regime that tore this family apart, and turned a beautiful young girl's life into a living hell. All of my white friends summarily dismissed Sandra Laing's story and rejected the possibility that it could be true. For them, it's easier to question Sannie Laing's marital fidelity than to keep an open mind about polygenic inheritance (genetic throwback). They should know by now that we don't know everything about genetic curve balls.The scenes that disturbed me the most were 1) Sandra enduring humiliating tests (measuring of her forehead and pencil stuck in her hair), 3) Sandra bleaching and seriously burning her skin with a dangerous homemade concoction of chemicals, and 3) Sandra's realization of her parents' deep denial of their own racism. It was painful to watch her attempt to survive relentless rejection. I'm convinced she loved Petrus in some way, but I believe she may have chosen to go with him at 15 years old to escape daily psychological and emotional torment. Unfortunately, the "one-drop rule" and the notion of white racial purity (tying to white superiority) remain rampant today, and even in the good old US of A. We will likely solve world hunger and cure every disease imaginable before we eradicate that one! Oh, and Tony Kgoroge is gorgeous. He has beautiful skin and a smile that could melt…well, anything! I loved watching him in "Invictus".

This is a very well made film portraying the complicated life of Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo), I won't bore you with the details as other posters have already gone into this. All the acting is first class. Sam Neill as Abraham and Alice Krige as Sannie Laing are both outstanding. Sophie Okonedo is her usual excellent self and acts a full range of emotions throughout as she portrays Sandra Laing's disturbing story.The actress playing the young Sandra Laing is also excellent.The fact that this is true story is very disturbing, especially the character of Abraham Laing. He is clearly racist yet loves his daughter even though she is dark skinned. His obsession with having her classified and treated as white as well as his eagerness to kill black people who get within six feet of his daughter is really disturbing, just what went through the mans mind is a mystery to anyone with a functioning brain. However the film does not just portray the white bigotry of South Africa, it also shows the hypocrisy of Sandra's black lover, he has sex with her even though she is just 15 at the time, refuses to marry her even though she has two of his children, and worse he blames her for any 'bad luck' that they have and physically abuses her so badly that she is forced to leave with her children. Sandra's mother is torn between her bigoted husband and her daughter who she loves, but it is not until late in life that she realises the full extent of her mistake. The father also near his death realises his big mistake but is this just to clear his conscience? His wife refuses to let him track down his daughter saying it is too late and he must suffer now as he has made everyone else suffer. As a footnote to the film, the end credits show the real Sophie and some old film of her as a child with her parents. It is hard to understand why, but both her brothers ( one of whom was also born dark skinned ) refuse to have anything to do with her. All in all this is a great film and well worth viewing. It will leave you thinking that is for sure.