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.
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.