A Small Light

"A Small Light" is a profound and moving retelling of the Anne Frank story that gifts her tale to another generation. The mini-series narrates the history of the Frank family in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam as seen through the eyes of Miep Gies, one of the heroic people who aided in their concealment. The daring resolution to portray Anne as a minor role is bold and grants a successful result.

The series is a profile of extreme courage, illuminating the bravery of those who stood up to evil in the face of great danger. The acting in "A Small Light" is superb, with Bel Powley and Liev Schreiber delivering standout performances. The direction is excellent, and the cinematography and production design are top-notch. The score is hauntingly beautiful, and the editing and pace are well-done. The dialogue is poignant and moving, and the themes of courage, gratitude, and integrity are powerfully conveyed.

Watching "A Small Light" evokes profound anguish, primarily because we know how it ends. However, amidst this sorrow and loss, the series skilfully intertwines moments of defiance, humour, and perseverance, which serve as glimmering beacons of hope. It stands as a powerful testament to the scars borne by humanity and the dire consequences that arise when individuals fail to confront evil. "A Small Light" is a charming, poignant drama and a powerful, moving series that inspires and uplifts you.

This may be the best miniseries I've ever seen. The acting, writing, cinematography, costumes, direction puts you in the story. Bel Pawley is revelatory. Liev Schreiber is the father we all want. Joe Cole's quiet morality is amazing. All of the actors, OMG. You feel like you're there, day to day, with people to whom we can all relate, those just living their lives, and those seduced by fascism.

They all lived in a multicultural country with free speech, nightclubs, and work. Disaster came upon them slowly. Then they had to do extraordinary things to try to save friends and neighbors when the world crashed in around them. The beauty of the series is you can see yourself in them. Watch it.

With only 2 episodes released at the time I'm writing this, I can't vouch for the entire season.. but I'm LOVING it So far! Cinematography is a great mix of artsy/creative and mainstream- artsy for me and mainstream enough for me to watch with my mom who isn't into a lot of the dark and "weird" shows I like. I really appreciate the balance of tension and pure emotion the writers are managing to build in a story we all know.

I'm the type of viewer that can't enjoy other elements properly if bad acting takes me out of the story... but this has been wonderfully cast! Otto, and Miep have been truly incredible so far, and I look forward to exploring the other characters in the coming episodes!

I felt the need to write this review because the only other written review is 1 star based on it not being historically accurate... and I can't stress this enough, ACCURACY /= A GREAT SHOW. A Small Light has managed to portray a horrific, and already thoroughly told, point of history from a different perspective. For everyone who sat in history class and said "I would have done xyz if I was around when nazis were committing war crimes", this gives peek into what that would have been like to actually make those tough choices... and the story is captivating regardless if it's an actual diary from the time.

This is a clear step forward in Hulu's originals track record, 100% recommend!

I generally prefer to watch "foreign" films in the original language with English subtitles, because I cannot stand the pseudo, toneless, unsympathetic, dubbed American voices. However, I don't consider this a "foreign" film as such, as it is essentially a British production, and have no problem with the characters speaking mainly English - although some German is used as well.

I think those viewers who have criticized certain historical elements in the characters, their roles, language, personalities and backgrounds, forget that this is, after all, a FICTIONAL account, albeit based on actual events. As so, writers have licence to change incidents, characters, speech, behaviour and so much more, to ensure that the script works in a film genre, and that we have not only an instructional and educational series, but also an ENTERTAINING one which you will want to follow, week after week.

This certainly hits the spot. Miep is engaging, funny, cute, courageous and very, very human. As is Jan - an ordinary "bloke", trying to do a very boring job to the best of his ability, until he is presented with a life-changing challenge. The Frank family and their guests, are all wonderfully presented as ordinary people, thrown into a horrific, terrifying situation.

But to my mind, the most impressive role is Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank. I remember him "fondly" as Ray Donovan and in other macho roles, but here he is underplayed, quiet, with a gentle sense of humour, but a core of steel, just trying to do the best for his family under horrible circumstances.

This series is to be commended for bringing the unknown story of Miep and Jan Gies to the attention of the entire world, thus it's selection of English as the main medium. It is compulsive viewing and I can hardly wait for the final two episodes - even though I know how this tragic story actually ends.

We finished this 8-episode mini-series over three evenings. It is good one, a damn good one.

This is the Anne Frank story but told from the perspective of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank's family from the Nazis for more than two years during World War II.

This is a superhero story of someone ordinary who accomplished extraordinary things. But if Miep were still alive she would harangue me for using the word superhero because in her view anybody can and should do what she did.

The Anne Frank story has been seared into the world's consciousness - a story of heroic resilience in the face of insurmountable odds. Years ago I visited the Anne Frank museum and I remember thinking how could a family of eight stay cooped up in an annex for two years and why didn't more people do what Miep and her husband Jan did?

The first two episodes are very easy to watch and I loved the love story of Miep and Jan. The meet-cute is a disaster but the second time they meet is magical. It is so easy to get behind them and understand why they did it. I kept questioning myself what would I have done if I were in their shoes. Would I be brave enough?

The last three episodes are filled with suspense to breaking point. So many eleventh hour tick tock nail-biting situations that make Mission Impossible movies a joke because it happened to real people. I know exactly what happened to the Franks but I was still hoping they survive.

Sorry, my words are crap. But trust me that this deserves your undivided attention and it is surprisingly not difficult to watch even if the suffering is unthinkable. I don't know... If I have kids I would sit them down and watch this with them because there are so many brilliant teaching moments, but that's me.

The reason this is called A Small Light is because of a quote by Miep who always ended her speeches with this: "But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room."