Where Hands Touch

Last updated

Where Hands Touch
Where Hands Touch poster.jpg
US theatrical release poster
Directed by Amma Asante
Written byAmma Asante
Produced by Charlie Hanson
Starring
Cinematography Remi Adefarasin
Edited bySteve Singleton
Music byAnne Chmelewsky
Production
companies
  • British Film Company
  • Head Gear Films
  • RTE
  • Screen Ireland
  • Northern Ireland Screen
  • Metrol Technology
  • Pinewood Pictures
  • UMedia
  • Nexus Factory
  • RTBF
  • Belgian Tax Shelter
Distributed byShear Entertainment
Release dates
  • 9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)(TIFF)
  • 14 September 2018 (2018-09-14)(United States)
Running time
122 minutes [1]
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Belgium
Ireland
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Box office$128,269 [2]

Where Hands Touch is a 2018 romantic war drama film written and directed by Amma Asante and starring Amandla Stenberg, George MacKay, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Eccleston, and Tom Sweet. It tells a fictional story of Leyna (Stenberg), a teenage girl under threat because of her mixed heritage while surviving in Nazi Germany. The film is based on historical record of the persecution of black people in Nazi Germany.

Contents

The film is a British, Belgian, Canadian, and Irish co-production. Principal photography on the film began in November 2016 in Belgium and lasted for a month, wrapping up in December 2016.

Where Hands Touch premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2018. It was released theatrically in the United States on 14 September 2018 by Vertical Entertainment. It received mixed reviews, with praise directed at Stenberg's performance, and criticism toward its screenplay.

Plot

Leyna is a 16-year-old girl fighting to survive in Nazi Germany during World War II. Living with her white mother Kerstin and her younger half-brother Koen, her mother is constantly targeted for having been with an African man, and Leyna for being a product of their interracial relationship, which was forbidden during the Nazi regime.

The family goes to live near Kerstin’s reluctant sister to escape the Gestapo in their hometown. One day, a Hitler Youth by the name of Lutz accidentally knocks Leyna to the ground while riding his bike, injuring her. After the incident, he takes interest in Leyna, who initially ignores his attention. When Leyna is kicked out of school, her mother takes her to work at the factory, where Lutz is able to see Leyna each day as he passes by on his bike. However, being the son of a high-ranking SS officer, Lutz struggles to follow in his father’s footsteps and must adhere to the brutal regime that scorns Leyna’s existence. Meanwhile, despite Kerstin’s teachings, Koen is forced to join the Hitler Youth, starts to accept the Nazi ideals and discriminates against his sister.

Lutz and Leyna begin to spend time together in secret, ultimately culminating in them falling in love. They share their first passionate kiss hidden in a doorway and eventually have sex when Lutz is forced to hide Leyna away in his home while Nazi soldiers unexpectedly begin to violently search everyone in the streets one day. As the war escalates, violence against all non-Aryans and those not deemed “true” Germans increases, and one day Kerstin is dragged away by soldiers in place of Leyna, leaving Koen and Leyna without their mother. Koen blames Leyna for the loss of their mother, and the prejudice and cruelty they face each day. Leyna takes Koen to stay with their Aryan aunt.

Leyna goes to see Lutz but is informed he has been suddenly summoned to the frontlines while she is sent to a Nazi labor camp. Leyna soon finds out she’s pregnant and must keep it a secret (as she is supposed to have been sterilized). Lutz is stationed as a SS guard at the same camp and is appalled to discover an emaciated Leyna as their feelings for each other resurface. During one of their secret rendezvous, he realizes she’s carrying his child and begs her to run away with him, so she will no longer suffer, and they can finally be together. Leyna refuses, knowing their death is inevitable should they attempt an escape.

After a bombing by the Americans, Lutz takes the opportunity to plan an escape with Leyna, but he is discovered, shot and killed by his father, who’s determined to keep them apart at all costs. Leyna falls to the ground, unable to move, staring at Lutz’s body until eventually an American soldier comes to take her away. Seven weeks later, she is heavily pregnant and recovering in an American displacement camp. Here, she miraculously reunites with her mother and brother.

Cast

Production

Development

Director/screenwriter Amma Asante had the idea for the film after she came across an old photo taken in Nazi Germany of a black schoolgirl standing among her white classmates. [4] Where Hands Touch tells a fictional story of a mixed-race teenage girl's relationship with a Hitler Youth member, but it is based on historical record of the persecution of black people in Nazi Germany. [4] It took Asante 12 years to take the project to the big screen. [4] Asante told the BBC that she faced disbelief and dismissiveness from some people when she spoke about her research for the film. "Often there's a form of disbelief, of questioning, sometimes even a dismissiveness of the difficult lives these people led," she said. [4]

Filming

Principal photography on the film began in November 2016 and wrapped up in December 2016 after shooting took place in Belgium (Werister coal mine) and the Isle of Man. [5] [3]

Release

On 20 May 2017, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the international distribution rights to the film, excluding select territories in Europe and Australia. [6] It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2018. [7] It was released in the United States on 14 September 2018 by Vertical Entertainment. [8]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43%, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's consensus reads, "Where Hands Touch is noteworthy for its exploration of a little-discussed corner of World War II, even if its story leaves something to be desired in the telling." [9] On Metacritic the film has a score of 44% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [10]

Glen Kenny of The New York Times criticized the film for "romanticization of Nazis". [11]

Box office

Where Hands Touch had a limited theatrical release in five theaters in the United Kingdom, ranking at number 34 at the box office in its first weekend and grossing $11,740 after five weeks in select UK theaters. [2] In the United States, the film was released to 103 theaters, ranking at number 42 at the box office and grossing $67,743 in its first and only weekend in US theaters. [2] The film grossed a total of $128,269 worldwide. [2]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Where Hands Touch". Toronto International Film Festival . Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Where Hands Touch". Box Office Mojo . IMDb. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Barraclough, Leo (8 February 2017). "First Look: Amandla Stenberg, George MacKay in Amma Asante's 'Where Hands Touch' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Zane, Damian (21 May 2019). "Being black in Nazi Germany". BBC . Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (1 November 2016). "Amma Asante's wartime race drama 'Where Hands Touch' begins in Belgium". Screen Daily . Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Lodderhose, Diana (20 May 2017). "Sony Pictures Worldwide Takes Amma Asante's 'Where Hands Touch' – Cannes". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (24 July 2018). "Toronto: Timothee Chalamet Starrer 'Beautiful Boy,' Dan Fogelman's 'Life Itself' Among Festival Lineup". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  8. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (21 August 2018). "Amma Asante's Toronto Pic 'Where Hands Touch' Scores Pre-Festival Deal With Vertical, Will Bow In September". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "Where Hands Touch (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "Where Hands Touch". Metacritic . Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Kenny, Glenn. "Review: 'Where Hands Touch,' Set in Nazi Germany, Is a Disturbing Misfire". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
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