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Short Films ....Long Silences
Sep. 21st, 2002 12:42 pmI went to a series of short films last night at the Film Festival. Some were cute, one was kind of "huh?", most were ok. One was profoundly moving. It was called Skin Deep by director Yousaf Ali Khan and was about an young man, an Asian who's mother is white and father was Pakistani, and his attempts at denying his heritage after a lifetime of being the victim of racism.
It takes place in the east end of London and opens with the young man fixing his hair in front of the mirror. He does that a lot, gazing into any reflective surface and smoothing his hair and clothes. He snarls at his image and starts hollering, calling someone a "F****** P***". Is he practicing for later or is he accusing his image? His little sister is darker skinned than he is and when he walks her to school, he makes her go ahead when she is about to pass a site where some skinheads are erecting a sign for a Nationalistic (Neo Nazi) organization even though she takes some verbal harassment from them.
He arrives at his workplace, obviously the junior employee, the new lad who gets to make tea for the others, tough looking young white men with shaved heads. He's unsure of how he fits in but they invite him to a pub after work and he goes, though his little sister had promised to give him something she made for him at teatime. The comedian at the pub is making racist jokes and one of his friends jokes that he looks Asian. He brushes it off with an agressive threatening attitude and seems to be accepted for his apparent distaste for the very idea. After the evening of drinking he and the lads proceed in high spirits noisily through the darkened streets. They spy two Asian men and swarm him. Our young man holds back but doesn't say anything to prevent this, remembering his own abuse at the hands of similar types when he was a lad, the terror, the name calling. One of the victims makes eye knowing, hurtful eye contact so he jumps into the fray hollering and frightening the two even more and joins the others verbally abusing another man for threatening to call the police from his safe flat. The group scatters when the sirens sound.
The young man leaves his "friends" and goes home. In the bathroom he begins to get upset, hurls racial insults at his image, denying his heritage and alternately admitting who he really is. He hacks at his hair to try to shave it off in fury and desperation. Crying, bleeding, he continues to scream bitterly at his image until his sister comes in with her gift. He sags against the mirror.
The film ends and there is silence in the audience. You could hear a pin drop, or the sounds here and there of sniffing as some people were moved to tears. I was nearly there myself. It was shocking, and very very sad. People should be free to love who they are, celebrate their differences, not tear each other to bits because they are so extreme in their belief in their own superiority. It takes a good 2 or three minutes before the applause begins. It is the last of the films. The lights go up and the audience silently files out, still trying to catch it's collective breath.
It takes place in the east end of London and opens with the young man fixing his hair in front of the mirror. He does that a lot, gazing into any reflective surface and smoothing his hair and clothes. He snarls at his image and starts hollering, calling someone a "F****** P***". Is he practicing for later or is he accusing his image? His little sister is darker skinned than he is and when he walks her to school, he makes her go ahead when she is about to pass a site where some skinheads are erecting a sign for a Nationalistic (Neo Nazi) organization even though she takes some verbal harassment from them.
He arrives at his workplace, obviously the junior employee, the new lad who gets to make tea for the others, tough looking young white men with shaved heads. He's unsure of how he fits in but they invite him to a pub after work and he goes, though his little sister had promised to give him something she made for him at teatime. The comedian at the pub is making racist jokes and one of his friends jokes that he looks Asian. He brushes it off with an agressive threatening attitude and seems to be accepted for his apparent distaste for the very idea. After the evening of drinking he and the lads proceed in high spirits noisily through the darkened streets. They spy two Asian men and swarm him. Our young man holds back but doesn't say anything to prevent this, remembering his own abuse at the hands of similar types when he was a lad, the terror, the name calling. One of the victims makes eye knowing, hurtful eye contact so he jumps into the fray hollering and frightening the two even more and joins the others verbally abusing another man for threatening to call the police from his safe flat. The group scatters when the sirens sound.
The young man leaves his "friends" and goes home. In the bathroom he begins to get upset, hurls racial insults at his image, denying his heritage and alternately admitting who he really is. He hacks at his hair to try to shave it off in fury and desperation. Crying, bleeding, he continues to scream bitterly at his image until his sister comes in with her gift. He sags against the mirror.
The film ends and there is silence in the audience. You could hear a pin drop, or the sounds here and there of sniffing as some people were moved to tears. I was nearly there myself. It was shocking, and very very sad. People should be free to love who they are, celebrate their differences, not tear each other to bits because they are so extreme in their belief in their own superiority. It takes a good 2 or three minutes before the applause begins. It is the last of the films. The lights go up and the audience silently files out, still trying to catch it's collective breath.
