Where Hands Touch centers on the story of 16-year-old Leyna, a biracial girl growing up in Nazi Germany. The romantic war drama is British director Amma Asante’s fourth film and tackles the experience of children of German and African descent, or ‘Rhineland bastards’, during World War II. Leyna (Amandla Stenberg), lives with her German mother Kerstin (Abbie Cornish) and younger brother in Berlin, after moving from the countryside in hopes of attracting less attention a larger city. It’s in Berlin that Leyna meets Lutz (George MacKay), a member of the Hitler Youth. After several secret meetings, they begin to fall in love. But things slowly fall apart after Leyna’s identification papers are destroyed and her mother is taken away from her.
Asante is known for her sensitive portrayals of race and intersections of identity in the well-received period films Belle and A United Kingdom, which explore modern issues through the lens of history. However, Where Hands Touch lacks the sensitivity of her previous films.
By placing the romance between Leyna and Lutz at the forefront of the narrative, Asante tries to engender sympathy for Lutz and his moral development, distracting from the more compelling and complex experience of Leyna. The film’s most touching moments are not the interactions between Leyna and Lutz, but rather the fierce love of her mother, who is determined to keep her children safe in both the physical sense, and also from the dangerous ideology spreading across their country. The redundant romance aside, Where Hands Touch succeeds in its depiction of familial bonds and the lengths to which we go to protect our loved ones.
Written by Jacinthe (18) edited by Mick Jarvis (as part of the Film in Revolt writing mentorship program).