Skin Deep

The idea must have looked good on paper: assemble a group of 21 college students of various hues and ethnic backgrounds from campuses across the U.S. and send them on a 3-day retreat to honestly confront their feelings about racism in undergraduate America. But, let's face it: hand-picking a bunch of young adults based on prior interviews and plopping them together to live in racial unharmony for 3 days knowing they are in front of a camera is about as real as MTV's The Real World. While there are some genuine insights and thoughtful commentary expressed by the young adults in the program, the filmmakers choice to remain invisible through most of the proceedings (though their hand is clearly evident in the editing) was a mistake. Without the context of a guide, the audience is left clueless as to what these kids are actually going through during this retreat. Ultimately, listening to these voices from the frontlines of victim chic, I found myself wondering how college kids today found any time for actual schoolwork, and whether, at this juncture of history, a curriculum-based education hadn't perhaps been relegated to a secondary position as a goal of higher learning. School Colors (VL-5/95) offers a much better examination of the issue of racial unrest on campus, albeit high school rather than college. Skin Deep barely scratches the surface. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)