"Little White Lie" is an interesting documentary in that I was MUCH more interested in learning how they made the film as opposed to the content. Now this isn't to say the film isn't interesting or worth seeing--it's terrific. But how they filmed it...that's what I'd love to talk to the filmmakers about more than anything else.
The film is an interesting real life story about a young Jewish women who didn't look like a typical Jew. After all, although EVERYONE in the family convinced themselves she was normal in every way, she was pretty clearly bi-racial. The obvious yet unasked question is 'how can a woman give birth to a bi-racial child when her husband is white?'--and obviously the biological father was someone else. Yet, everyone in her life bought into this lie! How does all this play out---see the film.
The interesting part of all this is that you see the subject of the film, Lacey Schwartz, in therapy sessions talking about her true racial identity...which is super-odd. Later, even odder, you see her show at at a funeral for her biological father and folks walk around like it's a normal funeral...when it couldn't have been due to the camera crew. The same can be said about when she confronts her mother and father about her race. How could the film crew just happen to be there and no one thought anything of it?! I assume this was all re-staged for the cameras. And THAT is why I found this film so interesting...so unusual and worth seeing.
By the way, I know the original quote by Krylov is about an elephant in the room, not a gorilla...but this is a quote by one of the family members when they FINALLY got to talking about the whole race issue.
Little White Lie
2014
Action / Biography / Documentary / Drama / Family
Little White Lie
2014
Action / Biography / Documentary / Drama / Family
Plot summary
Little White Lie tells Lacey Schwartz's story of growing up in a typical upper-middle-class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, with loving parents and a strong sense of her Jewish identity - despite the questions from those around her about how a white girl could have such dark skin. She believes her family's explanation that her looks were inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. But when her parents abruptly split, her gut starts to tell her something different. At eighteen, she finally confronts her mother and learns the truth: her biological father was not the man who raised her, but a black man named Rodney with whom her mother had an affair. Afraid of losing her relationship with her parents, Lacey doesn't openly acknowledge her newly discovered black identity with her white family until her biological father dies shortly before Lacey's thirtieth birthday. Following the funeral, Lacey begins a quest to reconcile the hidden pieces of her life and heal her relationship with her father. What defines our identity, our family of origin or the family that raises us? How do we come to terms with the sins and mistakes of our parents? Lacey discovers that answering those questions means understanding her parents' stories as well as her own. She pieces together her family history and the story of her dual identity using home videos, archival footage, interviews, and episodes from her own life. Little White Lie is a personal documentary about the legacy of family secrets, denial, and redemption.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
"The 600 pound gorilla...."
Race is Part
Well told,well directed, documentary on race being part of a troubled family's story.
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"
Little White Lie (2014) was written and directed by Lacey Schwartz. The movie is the autobiographical story of Ms. Schwartz, who was raised as a white, Jewish child, although her skin was--and is--clearly a light black. Lacey's parents were married, but, as we learn quickly, she is the product of an extramarital affair her mother had with a Black man.
The father that raised her either refused to accept the fact that Lacey was not his biological child, or did accept it internally but chose not to openly acknowledge it. It was not until college that Lacey started to perceive herself as black.
There's much more to the movie--interviews with her father and her mother, footage--but not interviews-- of her biological father, interviews with friends and relatives, and interviews with Lacey Schwartz herself. It's truly a fascinating situation, that is presented very well by the filmmaker/subject.
We saw this film at Rochester's Little Theatre, as part of the excellent Rochester International Jewish Film Festival. Ms. Schwartz herself attended the screening, and answered questions after the movie ended. She very obviously presents herself as a Black woman, albeit a light-skinned Black woman. For the record, she is a wonderful speaker--intelligent, cultured, and articulate. It's a credit to the RIJFF that they were able to bring her to Rochester for the screening.
We saw this film on the large screen, but it will work very well on a small screen. My suggestion is to find it and see it. It's a one-of-a-kind, extremely interesting, movie.