The story concerns the friendship of two children, approximately 7 years of age. Michael and Rachel find that they like each other, and they begin to spend time together. When Michael makes the Sign of the Cross before buying a newspaper from an “uh-centric” shopkeeper, Rachel asks whether he is doing magic.

So begins a dialogue about Michael’s Catholicism and Rachel’s Judaism — a dialogue carried out at a level which few adults achieve.

The death of a pet mouse leads to a funeral and some impassioned speculation about the creature’s religious identity. The children act out a certain “territoriality” which all of us can recognize in ourselves.

Rachel’s rabbi and Michael’s parish priest know each other and banter about soccer when they meet in the street. Is their relationship confined to this interaction? It’s an unanswered question, but the viewer cannot help but hope that their camaraderie is a hint of a deep foundation of mutual respect and appreciation.

At school (they go to “Springfield School”), Michael is chided by a pint-sized bigot for all the time he spends with the Jewish girl; it turns out that this fellow is an equal-opportunity bigot who takes his direction from his father, who does not like Jews or Catholics, and who has informed his son that because “the Jews killed Christ” they must be shunned. Thus is provoked the crisis in Rachel and Michael’s friendship ­­— a crisis which they manage to work through. (Our church, in 1965, explicitly denounced this accusation.)

I have probably provided too many spoilers, but I am in fact holding back on a lot of what makes the film so beautiful and moving.

Children today will find the film old-fashioned ­­— perhaps particularly because it is in black-and-white — but the drama has kept up with the times, which is to say that the times have not changed much in regard to interreligious understanding. There is also a contemporary feel in the children’s enthusiasm for the British royal family. And children’s fantasies, such as deciding to canoe to Africa, never grow old. The children who play Rachel and Michael are superb.

What did this film do for me when I was 9 years old? There is a theme of “be not afraid” as the children test the religious boundaries which some adults impose. As they exercise courage, they discover the kindness and welcome of other adults. I guess that the film prepared me to expect that, in getting to know people of various beliefs, there would be many opportunities to esteem and honor people in our orientations toward the divine.

In spite of the difficult theme of religious differences, Hand in Hand is consistently light-hearted and amusing. Needless to say, I strongly recommend that you see this unusual and remarkable film and share it with your children.