Anne Frank

Let's face this fact that Anne Frank's diary is almost as well read as the Bible, Torah, and Koran. We all know about Anne Frank, the Dutch Jewish girl, who hid in the attic with her family during World War II from the Nazis. She wrote in her diary about life in the attic and how they lived under constant fear and terror. The cast has Sir Ben Kingsley as Anne's father, Otto Frank, and lone survivor. Brenda Blethyn OBE is also in the cast. It's chilling when they get to the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, the separation, hair-shaving, and ritual act of dehumanizing everybody there. There was no talk among them as they sat with their hair being cut off for another purpose. We know who made it and didn't. After visiting Auschwitz in 2000, I didn't feel what I supposed to feel like ghosts and hauntings which I feared the most because it drains you emotionally. Even 60 years after the Holocaust, I fear that people are forgetting about it and not learning from it. We haven't learned because there are other Anne Franks out there. It is still a haunting and chilling testament of survival and the human spirit.

Anne Frank. A girl like anyone else. Anne Frank. A girl who wanted to travel, to do great things, to be a "modern woman". Just an ordinary girl, who lived and died under extraordinary circumstances. Forced into hiding after the Germans gained control of the Netherlands, she was confined in an annex for two years, and then discovered and with her family was taken to a concentration camp. She later perished there. The only survivor of the annex group was Anne's father, Otto Frank. All that is left of her story is the diary she left behind. Her diary, her legacy to the world, defined the voice of a generation. Her irrepressible spirit and pure heart shine through within its pages. Her words, some of the most precious words in history, have been preserved for posterity in the novel, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. This movie, Anne Frank: the Whole Story, tells this tale with such power it leaves the viewer in tears. From her bright, hopeful beginning to her heart-wrenching end, this movie grows a step further than the diary and really does show the "whole story". Inspiring, truthful, tragic, heartbreaking, yet triumph. 10/10

I was skeptical of this TV movie when I found out it was not based on Anne's diary, but on a biography of Anne Frank written by Melissa Muller. I am sure I am not the only one who wondered if any truth would be presented. I was pleasantly surprised.

I have just finished watching the second half of this movie on ABC. The scenes of the concentraion camps are horrific, and really tug at your heart. I can only imagine what these camps were like for the real people and how survivors live life today. Since the story wasn't told from Anne's diary, the viewers got another view of the short but significant life Anne lived, headed by a wonder all-star cast. The movie began with Anne in 1936 and ended upon her death at Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Hannah Taylor-Gordon was excellent as Anne. At first I wondered if she was too young (at age 14) to portray such a dramatic role, but as Anne grew, Hannah grew as well. Ben Kingsley and Tatjana Blacher played Anne and Margot's parents wonderfully, and the rest of the cast added to the beauty, horror, and passion of the film: Lili Taylor, Rob Das, Brenda Blethyn, and many more.

This TV mini-series shows us the horrors resulting from the cold, clinical meeting dramatized in HBO's film CONSPIRACY.

But beyond the horrors, this film is a touching presentation of the events behind the book THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK and goes far beyond the stage play and film of that title. Anne, her friends, her family, and her world are depicted before, during, and after the long, hopeful, but futile hiding in an attic. Various forms of the monstrosities of humans who forget their humanity are pitted against the perseverance of people who maintain their humanity.

This film should be seen in conjunction with CONSPIRACY, SCHINDLER'S LIST, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED and other films that vividly show us what happened at a time when the human race was supposedly at a very highly civilized point. Such films show what horrors the human race can create when we forget who and what we are -- human.

We should see such horrors so that we do not forget. As the old saying goes, he who forgets the past...

This movie is so much more realistic than every other Anne Frank film. For starters it does not show Anne as a saint-like person and although she was a great, great person, she was just like every other girl (excuse me) young lady, she had her faults, and beyond Anne there were the others who had their problems.

Anne was magnificently played by Hannah Taylor Gordon. She is one of the best Annex that I have seen yet. She was perfect in her characterization and really made you love her. You looked at her on screen and you were caught in love with instantly, she was like magic on screen. She as well as Ben Kingsley and Brenda Blethyn both deserve Emmy nominations for their work.

Otto and Auguste van Pels were spot on. Ben playing Otto Frank not as a regal saintly savior of the Annex members (although in many respects he really was) but as a guiding light, the leader, and the most intelligent. Brenda Blethyn turns in another great performance as the spoiled and unadaptable Mrs. van Pels. Great in all her scenes you learn to give sympathy to this woman in a way you don't give anyone else, especially when you see her in the end.

The rest on the Annex members were also nice. Edith Frank was shown as she might really have been in real life. A woman going through a mid-life crises of sorts. Looking back and perhaps not being quite satisfied with her marriage and life. Peter van Pels was as I've never seen him before. The actor was excellent and gave life to Peter which is something I've always wanted to see from the Peter van Pels actors. Mr. van Pels and Mr. Pfeffer are wonderful too. And all of the Secret annex occupants really made a great relationship with the workers.

Lili Taylor pulled of a nice performance as Miep, very selfless and hard working. The rest were great too, including the warehouse worker. However, my main complaint was that Bep Voskuijl was shown to be an utter ditz. Maybe she was written this way because Miep said that that was the way she was, however, I did find it somewhat sad to see her portrayed that way.

The crew also pulled of excellent work. The costuming was nice. Barbara Lane was able to show with good quality how that Franks, van Pels, and Mr. Pfeffer were not poor. Never were they poor, they were very well off. I feel many costumers in the past have assumed that because they were all Jews being persecuted and in hiding that they were poor. Although the quality of clothing would have gone down with time (as shown) she still was able to put forth wonderful work. As did the art department going into nice detail to recreate the annex and the Frank house. Brilliantly filmed all around, power to the writer and producers for going outside the annex.