Where Hands Touch

Someone suggested that all the low ratings from the professional critics and viewers here are the result of some kind of bias.

Seriously recoiling and critiquing lousy film making, so bad that the message is -- "I love Romeo the Nazi" -- is an expression of bias?

I think virtually all of us panning this film *want* to give it a high rating for the story it is attempting to tell. But the clichés, terrible scripting, absolutely abysmal acting do not do credit to the story of attitudes toward biracial children in Nazi Germany (or virtually anywhere in the world where they were mostly seen as genetic and social threats).

The bravery and resilience of the young woman simply do not come through at all. It was an opportunity to present her as superior in every way and instead the writers decided to overlay a sanguine and utterly not credible "Romeo and Juliet" nonsense over the story, obliterating the meaning and actual genuine drama.

We get no explanation, none at all as to why this brave young biracial girl would fall in love with a Nazi who shows no real trepidation at being part of the machinery that will kill Jews, a lot of other people, and destroy Europe.

FYI the young actress, Amandla Stenberg, is actually a good actress. Abby Cornish once again proves she has lucked into a couple of roles, but in general she is at best a mediocre to poor actress.

I have seen every Holocaust film ever made of any note. Schindler's List is very good; as was Seven Beauties by Wertmuller. I thought Life is Beautiful was overrated. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was far superior to Life is Beautiful. Most Holocaust films are very powerful, but a few are stereotypical. After Sophie's Choice, which I thought was the most powerful of all Holocaust films, I had a tendency to avoid reviewing any more of them. Then this film came along, and became the best Holocaust film of all time; every bit the equal of Schindler's List. This is due mostly to the performance of the outstanding young actress, Amandia Stenberg, who overwhelms the screen in every scene she is in. She will be a talent to be reckoned with for decades to come. Why some idiots are rating this film below a 7 is beyond my comprehension, although there are a lot more stupid people in the world than there are knowledgeable ones; so that might be an explanation. Be part of the world that isn't stupid, and view this film as soon as you can; you will not be disappointed.

I don't think the movie deserves the worst reviews it got on here. It delivered an accurate depiction of the ruthlessness of fascism, which I am unfortunately familiar with, and of love between two young people. The acting was good to brilliant in my opinion. There were some scenes that were a little too long or not exactly necessary and I can't tell if the script fits the reality of those days a hundred percent but overall, it was a good watch.

Agreed there are a plethora of riveting stories crying to be told about this period that should always be part of our memories and awareness as a generation of Holocaust and camp surivors leaves us. This is the first time I've seen anything address the struggles and experiences of bi-racial children in Germany at this time.

Theirs was a struggle to belong and reconcile their German identity with the atrocties in their personal and social world.

Stories like these are few and far between and when one see the ridiculous scores some have given this film it is no wonder. I agree with other reviewers that 'Sadly, I suspect this very departure from "the norm" is why this film is being unfairly downvoted'.

In a nutshell, there were many groups targeted under Nazi rule...we simply don't hear about them, short of some peripheral mention. And their attitudes and struggle for identity is worthy of understanding. I also commend Amana Asante for daring to tell this story, because within the black community (and others I'm sure) the backlash to this film has been fierce, which is precisely why we need more films like these that shatter the status quo. We are applauding you Amana and all of the wonderful team who worked on and acted in this quality film.

Maybe this is made for kids, but this felt like a Diet Coke version of WWII. The premise is interesting - two teens on opposing sides (a biracial teen female and a Hitler youth male) fall for each other. But the film felt so light in its setup and the characters were acting in ways that made it feel like there was no real danger. It has pretty cinematography and the effort is there and the overall story premise is good, but it didn't feel all that realistic to me.