Everyday Activist - Hue: A Matter of Colour

Posted on Monday, May 11, 2015 at 07:00 PM

Review: Hue: A Matter of Colour

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

Hue: A Matter of Colour will screen at the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival's 2015 Film Nights on Tuesday, May 12th, 2015 at the River Park Church in Calgary. As with all documentaries featured at this festival, they are free for the public. In the case of Hue, thank goodness.

Where to begin? What many people don’t know is that colorism is a fact of life for East Indians and thus no surprise that an East Indian would tackle such a project. When people in that culture get married one of the first questions asked is “Is (s)he fair?” or if a baby is born “Is (s)he fair?” Once the skin color is established the rest of the questions follow such as “What does (s)he do for work?” or “How heavy was (s)he?” Even in my own family my great aunt looked at my father and said in front us, “Thank goodness they got their mother’s coloring.”

Had the film maker focused exclusively on colorism in this context then the movie makes more sense, especially when he imparts his personal experience with it. He does talk about the Hindu gods being light skinned and about English colonialism creating the desire for light skin due to social hierarchy. Given, in India, you’ll find skin whitening creams in place of tanning ones; you’re typically not going to lose out on job opportunities, based on skin color. Gender, family and caste have more impact in that scenario. True, you might not be first on the eligible to be married list, but my dark dad got married and had children. Colorism exists within Caucasian culture as well as shown by the number of tanning salons available and the treatment of redheads (Gingers) in the media, which I’m surprised the movie didn’t mention.

The rest of film jumps from continent to continent and in some cases, glosses over serious issues. Murdering albino babies and children in Africa for witch doctor rituals isn’t colorism. It’s murder. These poor kids live in terror and can’t leave their compound even to attend a parent’s funeral. I had no idea such a thing existed. While such a cosmetic treatment of something so awful hurts the narrative, I am grateful to him creating awareness, however, haphazard. I wish he would have made a completely separate documentary about this and the courageous people working hard to help these kids have a normal life with other kids.

Another big part of the film is the multi-billion family business of skin whitening in the Philippines, which also could have had its own documentary, though I think it could have fit within the East Indian context of fair skin is beautiful. The other stories didn’t really fit. They were more about racism, even though they were within individual families. His personal story could have been edited as well. Blaming a failed marriage and poor parenting skills on skin color doesn’t appeal to me.

Overall, I think it’s worth a watch as a long as you have low expectations. I’m sure the discussion at the festival will be good and I learned some things I didn’t know. With the current racial tensions in world, especially in the US we could use some guidance on how to eliminate these prejudices. Unfortunately, this isn’t the film for that.

Calgary Showtimes: MLJFF: Hue: A Matter of Colour >