"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.

Well told,well directed, documentary on race being part of a troubled family's story.

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.