Skin

A film drawn from a real life. Bryon lived on the street as a child. A couple found him and took him in; the man leads a racist group. Bryon grew up in that house and became an adult inside that group. His face, neck and hands are covered in tattoos. One day at a rally he meets Julie, who has come with her three daughters. She was once in the same world and got out. Bryon wants to be with her, and that means leaving the group. Leaving is not simple. The group will not release him and threatens him. And the tattoos remain: he cannot find work, nobody will look at him and children are frightened. The second line is the removal of the tattoos. The process takes years and every session is painful; the narrative shows it as a price. The narrative does not absolve the man. What he did in the past is described and the film does not soften it. Jamie Bell plays Bryon, Danielle Macdonald plays Julie, and Bill Camp and Vera Farmiga the leaders of the group. Guy Nattiv directed; he won an Oscar for a short film on the same subject. A hard example for anyone who likes drama based on real events. Before you watch, know this: the film shows racist violence and language directly.