The Man Who Sold His Skin         4 stars

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania takes on the high-end art world and the inequalities of immigration policies toward refugees in The Man Who Sold His Skin. Sam Ali (Yahya Mahayni) is a young Syrian man in a war-torn country who only wants to marry his girlfriend when he is targeted by the authoritarian government and is forced to become a refugee fleeing to Lebanon. Sam catches the attention of a famous provocative artist, Jeffrey Godefroi who offers him his freedom if he will allow the artist to use Sam’s back as a canvas in order to tattoo a new piece of artwork. In exchange for the freedom to travel to Belgium where his girlfriend now lives with her new husband and payment from the artwork’s proceeds, Sam must agree to being put on display at art museums for the public to view. The artwork on his back is a visa meant to criticize the treatment of refugees. In making this transaction Sam exchanges one sort of imprisonment for the enslavement of being reduced to a piece of art. Ben Hania shoots some scenes at odd angles using windows and mirrors meant to emphasize how Sam is treated as an object. Sam seems happy with his newly found notoriety at first, that is until he finds that his girlfriend is not so thrilled at the idea of being rescued and he learns of his mother’s feelings about his decision. The premise of the movie is of course absurd and is meant as an indictment of the art world and the racism directed toward certain ethnic groups. The Man Who Sold His Skin received multiple accolades including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film, though much of the film is in English. For another attack on the high-end art world though with a comedic twist, I recommend Velvet Buzzsaw.