Anne Frank - The Whole Story

Anne Frank - The Whole Story"Anne Frank - the Whole Story" is a well-acted and beautifully filmed movie based on Melissa Muller's biography of Anne Frank.It basically recounts how the Frank family comprising father Otto, mother Edith and daughters Margot and Anne chose to go into hiding in Amsterdam after the Nazis stepped up their persecution of Jews [and Margot got a summons for deportation].Their hiding place is a secret annex located in the factory run by Otto Frank. The Franks' trusted Gentile friends help them and soon the hiding place is opened to accommodate the Van Pels' [husband, wife and teen son, Peter] and a dentist, Mr Pfeffer. The Jewish refugees spend about 2 yrs in hiding, from July 1942 till Aug 1944 [when they were betrayed].This was a difficult movie to watch because I was already familiar with Anne's story [having read "Diary of a Young Girl" more than two decades ago] and knew what happened to Anne, her family and the rest of the hidden Jews. The movie was beautifully filmed with great attention to period details and the excellent casting choices made this the best movie on Anne Frank I've ever watched.Ben Kingsley is very credible as Otto Frank, the stoic WW I German veteran who is initially optimistic that the war will soon end. His intense bond and love for Anne is very real in this movie, as is his portrayal of a protective family man who is determined to keep his family together, no matter what. Hannah Taylor-Gordon plays Anne Frank, and her resemblance to the real-life Anne is quite uncanny. Her portrayal of Anne is simply amazing - strong-willed, impetuous, candid, ambitious, and yet, underlying all that fierceness of spirit is a young girl on the brink of womanhood who yearns to be thought of as a woman and not a girl, and longs for freedom and love. When I read "Diary of a Young Girl", I always had a picture of Anne in my mind and thought that Hannah Taylor Gordon played the role flawlessly.The supporting cast is also well-played - Tatjana Blacher plays the role of Edith Frank , the unassuming mother who has an abrasive relationship with Anne[ who feels her mother doesn't understand her] yet loves her daughters very much. The loud and aggressive Auguste Van Pels is played to perfection by Brenda Blethyn and her husband, Hermann is credibly portrayed by Joachim Krol. Jessica Manley plays Margot Frank with a quiet calmness that is tinged with sensitivity.The "Righteous Gentiles", those who helped Anne and her family throughout their hiding are well-portrayed as well, especially Lili Taylor as the courageous and devoted Miep Gies.The narration of the story flows smoothly from Anne's joyful childhood at the beginning of the movie to the fearful period when the Nazis invade and later start their persecution of the Dutch Jews to the awkwardness of the people in hiding [all the tensions between individuals who are forced to live in close quarters], and finally to their betrayal, arrest and deportation. The scenes in the camp are horrific [caution: there are scenes of female nudity] and the squalor in which Anne, Margot and Edith find themselves after being deported to Auschwitz [from the transit camp Westerbork] is terrible to watch. Margot and Anne are later transported to Bergen-Belsen, where conditions are inhuman - starvation is never ceasing, diseases are rampant and hope is dim.What stayed with me at the end of the movie was the final dialogue between Anne and Margot, where they struggle to remember their hopes and dreams that they once had, trying to imagine a life after the war and how those hopes would remain unfulfilled. It is a tragic testament to all those innocent lives that were lost during the Holocaust - the stolen childhoods, the lost innocence, dashed dreams and of the 1.5 million children who were silenced forever.I'd rate "Anne Frank: The Whole Story" a must-watch movie on the Holocaust.

The combination of outstanding acting and material from many sources provides a moving, sometimes horrifying, often warm picture of not only Anne Frank but the love and dedication which sustained many during the horrors of the Holocaust. Normally, the very thought of the time and place is enough to make one shudder, and to envision a world of pure evil and hatred. Though there is no gloss on that aspect, and the concentration camp scenes do not minimise the horror, the mutual caring of those in the Annexe and those who assist them (despite huge danger) provides a balance which can restore a picture of the essential goodness of human nature which even the worst conditions do not always destroy.Though I have not read the particular biography on which this adaptation is based, I had previously seen interviews with those who knew Anne and her family, and memories of theirs are cleverly interwoven into the early sequences. Anne's portrait is frank and largely amusing, and the subtle recognition of how anti-Jewish measures in Amsterdam slowly stripped Jews of rights is well depicted. The gradual restrictions, at first bothersome but not horrid, are a keen reminder both of how respected neighbours can be reduced to outcasts, and, tellingly, of how those such as Otto Frank could initially have felt safe in Amsterdam.Seeing Anne with friends, at school, in her lovely flat, and at Otto's office makes the impact of the hiding and constant fright understandable - I felt claustrophobic and trapped just watching the relatively peaceful days in the Annexe. Anne's reflections, based on her diary, will strike a chord with anyone. The hatred surrounding her from the invaders is clear, but the other struggles are those all of us face as we come to maturity, and the limited picture one normally could have from having 'seen' only the time in hiding can turn Anne into a monument rather than a cheeky, inspired, boy obsessed, intelligent teenager.There are times when even brief lines capture a great deal. For example, when Otto Frank, in response to Anne's overall bitterness towards all Germans, reminds her both that the Franks are German and that protector Miep is Austrian (just like Hitler), it is a strong reminder of how coming to maturity means broadening perspective.The scenes in the concentration camp do not spare the viewer the horror of the reality. Anne's screaming for her father; the tragic sequence when women, stripped of clothes and hair, try to cover themselves to maintain dignity; the utter cruelty of the female who tells Anne the men are already gassed as she tattoos Anne's arm with her identification number, all would cause one to wonder what sort of hatred could lead to so degrading others, even before we see or hear of anyone's dying. Camera angles which capture the chimneys of Auschwitz show us, all too well, the awareness of death with which the prisoners lived at each moment.I believe that this film is enriching and enlightening, however painful the camp sequences are (and well they should be). My only caution for classroom use is that students need to have previous awareness of the history of the era, and have already braced themselves for scenes of the horror of the camps. Those who have only small familiarity with Anne's diary, which naturally chronicles no nightmarish events, could be very shocked otherwise.

This is a wonderful film Tells the whole story from before the Frank family has to go into hiding until after when they are caught and sent to concentration camps. It is not endorsed by the "Frank" family but that doesn't matter. It is as accurate as the official Anne Frank stories. Ben Kingsley is outstanding in it. Highly recommend.