| Director | Amma Asante |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, romance film, war film |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Box office | $128,269 |
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 an interest in Leyna, who initially ignores him. When Leyna is kicked out of school, her mother takes her to work at the factory, where Lutz sees Leyna every 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 spending time together in secret, ultimately 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 an 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 is 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.