Skin (15)
Directed by Guy Nattiv

THIS powerful debut feature by Guy Nattiv is inspired by the real-life story of how Bryon Widner, a former American neonazi racist skinhead, transforms his life by turning his back on hatred and violence.

The film-maker reportedly spent some five years unsuccessfully trying to finance his film but then Donald Trump was elected president and Charlottesville happened — both giving legitimacy and a rising voice to white supremacists.

An almost unrecognisable Jamie Bell gives a stellar and disturbing performance as the tattooed Widner. Raised by racist skinheads, he’s saved by the love of his wife and family and black activist Daryle Jenkins (Mike Colter).

But the film does beg the question of whether a brutal white supremacist really can be transformed by the love of a good woman.
 
The hard-drinking and foul-mouthed Widner is seen at the start beating up a black teenager and he carves a swastika on his face following a violent confrontation in Columbus, Ohio between neonazis and black demonstrators.

The story is intercut with Widner undergoing numerous excruciatingly painful procedures to have his tattoos removed. Tribal markings or badges of honour carrying racist connotations, it takes almost two years to have them all erased thanks to a generous anonymous donor.

Although the film doesn’t get fully under the skin of the neonazis, it does provide a more rounded and three-dimensional picture of them, driven by Bell’s nuanced portrayal.

With the growing rise worldwide of far-right white supremacists Widner’s story, sometimes difficult to watch, provides some hope that the minds of racist hard-liners and thugs can be changed.