Amandla Stenberg’s latest movie Where Hands Touch has been slammed on Twitter by users who accused the film of humanising Nazis.
Helmed by Belle director Amma Asante, the film tells the story of a biracial teenager in Nazi Germany, played by Stenberg, who falls in love with a member of the Hitler Youth. Where Hands Touch was released in the U.S. last September (18), but Asante took to Twitter on Wednesday (02Jan) inviting users to stream the feature via iTunes, Amazon and various other platforms. However, the controversial storyline proved to be very divisive.
“Nazis and those who love them are not deserving of being humanised/sanitised. They don’t need to be immortalised by film. Their love is not revolutionary or beautiful!” one Twitter user argued, while another added, “Dear Amandla, Fire your agent. A Nazi love story? Really girl?”
Others particularly criticised a scene in which Stenberg’s character uses the n-word to describe jazz music, while Twitter user @hanxine revealed a video clip she’d posted from the film had been removed after a claim was made by producer Charles M Hanson.
Nevertheless, there were still some fans of the movie who spoke up to show their support, insisting it was “beautifully done” and praising The Hate U Give star for her performance.
Prior to the film’s release, Stenberg told reporters at Variety that she anticipated some backlash on account of the fact that Asante, who also penned the script, decided to focus on a non-Jewish story against a Holocaust backdrop.
“I think it’s challenging for people to conceive of a story about the Holocaust that is not centred around the Jewish experience, but the experience of someone else…” the 20-year-old considered.
“But I think what the movie does really beautifully is it demonstrates what happens with these tricky intersections of identity and how we still continue to be human and love and be loved, despite that.”
