Anne Frank: The Whole Story Review
20 March 2013
This is a story that I’m sure everyone is familiar with. Almost everyone knows who Anne Frank was and how her story ended. Many people have read some edition of her diary and probably more people have seen one of the many dozen odd films made based on her life.
For myself, I can say that it was Anne Frank that began my deep interest in Holocaust literature. And who inspired me to keep a regular journal… but back on subject. This is a period of history that I have read and studied and investigated for years. I know that this time period is touchy for people, but I’m still surprised at how many people do not realize how serious and fatal the years between 1939 and 1945 were for thousands of European lives. They have some brief idea… but it gets shoved on the back shelf
as ‘history’ or‘the olden days’. And many others see those years through the lenses of statistical information, facts, and figures. Yes, we all know that this was something that we must never let happen again. But each and every one of the victims – whether they were Jewish, soldiers, civilians, partisans – they all have a story. And what I love about this film is that it tells Anne’s story.
It starts in February 1939, before the Nazi’s come, before the war starts, and before Anne starts her diary. You get to know Anne before she goes into hiding, you get to know her friends, her trials, her family, her crush, her dreams… which are inevitably shattered when she goes into hiding with her family. Then you get to know and understand the older Anne who has to live cramped in 3 rooms with people who she constantly butts heads with.
Now, this is when this film far exceeds all other Anne Frank films. Most films stop at the discovery of the eight Jews… then show photographs and emotional music telling you what happened to everyone. Not this one. This film follows Anne, her family, and the four others in hiding to the Westerbork Transit Camp, then onto Auschwitz-Birkenau, then onto Bergen-Belsen. I can’t tell you how much more meaningful and impacting the story becomes as you watch Anne and the others on the cattle cars, being tattooed, having their heads shaved, going through starvation and disease… It hits home: this was real, people really had to go through this, people really DIED like this.
No, Anne was not perfect. She was a very normal girl with normal emotions, feelings, and reactions. Her family was not perfect. And this is one movie that portrays all of that perfectly.
SYNOPSIS
For myself, I can say that it was Anne Frank that began my deep interest in Holocaust literature. And who inspired me to keep a regular journal… but back on subject. This is a period of history that I have read and studied and investigated for years. I know that this time period is touchy for people, but I’m still surprised at how many people do not realize how serious and fatal the years between 1939 and 1945 were for thousands of European lives. They have some brief idea… but it gets shoved on the back shelf
as ‘history’ or‘the olden days’. And many others see those years through the lenses of statistical information, facts, and figures. Yes, we all know that this was something that we must never let happen again. But each and every one of the victims – whether they were Jewish, soldiers, civilians, partisans – they all have a story. And what I love about this film is that it tells Anne’s story.
It starts in February 1939, before the Nazi’s come, before the war starts, and before Anne starts her diary. You get to know Anne before she goes into hiding, you get to know her friends, her trials, her family, her crush, her dreams… which are inevitably shattered when she goes into hiding with her family. Then you get to know and understand the older Anne who has to live cramped in 3 rooms with people who she constantly butts heads with.
Now, this is when this film far exceeds all other Anne Frank films. Most films stop at the discovery of the eight Jews… then show photographs and emotional music telling you what happened to everyone. Not this one. This film follows Anne, her family, and the four others in hiding to the Westerbork Transit Camp, then onto Auschwitz-Birkenau, then onto Bergen-Belsen. I can’t tell you how much more meaningful and impacting the story becomes as you watch Anne and the others on the cattle cars, being tattooed, having their heads shaved, going through starvation and disease… It hits home: this was real, people really had to go through this, people really DIED like this.
No, Anne was not perfect. She was a very normal girl with normal emotions, feelings, and reactions. Her family was not perfect. And this is one movie that portrays all of that perfectly.
SYNOPSIS
Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley, Golden Globe winner Brenda Blethyn and Hannah Taylor Gordon star in the stirring tale of one of the most influential young women of the 20th century. Based on Melissa Muller’s critically acclaimed book, Anne Frank
goes beyond the story you already know and paints the true portrait of Anne both before and after she went into hiding.
Get to know the high-spirited and popular girl before the war, and experience the challenges of the brave people who risked their lives trying to keep her safe. Anne Frank also explores the enduring mystery of who betrayed the Frank family and reveal what happened
next.
SCENERY
The scenery of this film is typically ‘modern’. Apartment and office blocks, schools, busy streets… there is one time that the family goes to the beach which is obviously fake. The layout of the annex is so realistic and true to history that I’m really in awe of the set
designer!
Here is a virtual tour you can take of the annex – you may as well be walking through the set of Anne Frank: The Whole Story!
goes beyond the story you already know and paints the true portrait of Anne both before and after she went into hiding.
Get to know the high-spirited and popular girl before the war, and experience the challenges of the brave people who risked their lives trying to keep her safe. Anne Frank also explores the enduring mystery of who betrayed the Frank family and reveal what happened
next.
SCENERY
The scenery of this film is typically ‘modern’. Apartment and office blocks, schools, busy streets… there is one time that the family goes to the beach which is obviously fake. The layout of the annex is so realistic and true to history that I’m really in awe of the set
designer!
Here is a virtual tour you can take of the annex – you may as well be walking through the set of Anne Frank: The Whole Story!
STORY
Anne Frank is a very popular, well-liked, and opinionated young girl, living with her mother, father, and
older sister –Margot – in Amsterdam. Adolf Hitler waltzes in and turns her life upside down. Now she is branded with a yellow star, taken from her familiar school, and is banned from certain public places. Rumours start to circulate through the Jewish community of labour camps and the atrocities done there, so Anne’s father prepares a hiding place for his family and four other family friends. There Anne – and everyone else – has to adapt to cramped living, personality crashes, and all other things involved with not being under the sun, not breathing fresh air, not touching nature, and not being able to run, dance or jump for over two years.
Anne Frank is a very popular, well-liked, and opinionated young girl, living with her mother, father, and
older sister –Margot – in Amsterdam. Adolf Hitler waltzes in and turns her life upside down. Now she is branded with a yellow star, taken from her familiar school, and is banned from certain public places. Rumours start to circulate through the Jewish community of labour camps and the atrocities done there, so Anne’s father prepares a hiding place for his family and four other family friends. There Anne – and everyone else – has to adapt to cramped living, personality crashes, and all other things involved with not being under the sun, not breathing fresh air, not touching nature, and not being able to run, dance or jump for over two years.
Somehow, they were discovered and arrested. All eight of them were sent to the Westerbork Transit Camp, then from there they were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the dreaded death camp. Anne, her mother, sister, and Mrs. Van Pels (the other lady in hiding with them) all go through the routine tattooing, hair-cutting, and showering. During their time in the camp, Anne and her sister, Margot, get scabies and are sent to Bergen-Belsen. Spoiler There Margot dies from starvation, cold, and disease. End of Spoiler It then cuts to after the war and Anne’s father – Otto – returns home. He goes searching for the rest of his family. What will he find after so much time of horror?
CHARACTERS
Another thing that I love about this A.F. adaptation is that the correct names are used. In Anne’s diary she changed the van Pels’ surname to‘van Daan’ and Fritz Pfeffer became Fritz ‘Dussel’. If I recall correctly, both these names don’t mean something very nice. :/ A lot of films use the new diary names, but this one uses the real names of the characters.
Another thing that I love about this A.F. adaptation is that the correct names are used. In Anne’s diary she changed the van Pels’ surname to‘van Daan’ and Fritz Pfeffer became Fritz ‘Dussel’. If I recall correctly, both these names don’t mean something very nice. :/ A lot of films use the new diary names, but this one uses the real names of the characters.
Anne Frank is played by Hannah Taylor-Gordon. What is so great and so irritating about this film is that they didn’t glamorize Anne… they didn’t make her out to be perfect and everyone else just ‘misunderstands’ her. Anne is rather selfish, narrow-minded, and quick to pass judgements without considering the other person’s side of the story. She loves her father very very much, misjudges and dislikes her mother, and gets on relatively well with her sister, Margot (Actually, I really like the sisterly relationship shown between these two girls; it’s sweet, and different to other A.F. films) It is only after they are arrested does she really cling to her family – well, the ones that she is left with.
Otto Frank is played by Ben Kingsley. Mr. Kingsley plays a very convincing Otto. The quiet leader of the household, making plans and arranging for the family’s getaway, leading the respective companies, and still being ultimately in charge, even when in hiding. He keeps calm, tries to think things out rationally, and never raises his voice. Granted, that said, he does spoil Anne too much, and could have done more to defend his wife during certain‘discussions’ in the annex.
Tatjana Blacher plays Edith Frank. I love this actress; not only is she absolutely beautiful, but she plays the depth of Edith remarkably well. She is a quiet woman who cares very deeply for her family, but you can see in her eyes how hurt she is that her youngest daughter, Anne, does not return that affection so readily. Throughout the film she is constantly encouraging, defending, and staying behind for Anne… I just wanted to shake the girl and make her realize it!
Jessica Manley plays Margot Frank. This is another actress that is beautiful, not only physically… but her sweet temperament and character make her seem even prettier. Have you ever met someone like that? At first she is a little ‘haughty’ (and I do mean only a very little bit), but she shows love to her sister throughout the film. This is something that is not shown in other A.F. films. There is a sweet, genuine sister relationship here between Anne and Margot that is really beautiful.
Miep Gies is played by Lili Taylor. Miep was the primary caretaker for the eight people in hiding. She would visit them regularly, go shopping for their food, take things to the black market on behalf of them, bring special gifts when she would find one. I think Miep is probably the heroine for the whole Anne Frank story. This tough Dutch lady shows such emotional strength and courage all the way through. Very inspiring.
The Van Pels family: Herman, Auguste, and their son Peter.
Herman van Pels was played by Joachim Krol. Auguste van Pels was played by Brenda Blethyn. Peter Van Pels was played by Nicholas Audsley.
Herman and Auguste are quite a laugh. Herman is cracks some rather funny jokes and smokes cigarettes when he is stressed (which would be quite often, as you can imagine). Auguste is almost always whining. She is forever picking fights with her husband or Edith, and flirts with Otto. Peter is very quiet and shy, and is constantly picked on by his father.
Herman is a work associate with Otto, so the van Pels family joins the Frank family in hiding in the annex. Stress levels rise as
personalities clash and arguments ensue. After learning a bit more about what Peter is like, Anne and Peter ‘fall in love’ while in
hiding.
Herman van Pels was played by Joachim Krol. Auguste van Pels was played by Brenda Blethyn. Peter Van Pels was played by Nicholas Audsley.
Herman and Auguste are quite a laugh. Herman is cracks some rather funny jokes and smokes cigarettes when he is stressed (which would be quite often, as you can imagine). Auguste is almost always whining. She is forever picking fights with her husband or Edith, and flirts with Otto. Peter is very quiet and shy, and is constantly picked on by his father.
Herman is a work associate with Otto, so the van Pels family joins the Frank family in hiding in the annex. Stress levels rise as
personalities clash and arguments ensue. After learning a bit more about what Peter is like, Anne and Peter ‘fall in love’ while in
hiding.
Fritz Pfeffer is played by Jan Niklas. He is an older Jewish dentist that joins the Frank and van Pels family in hiding. He and Anne share room and seem to be constantly fighting. Especially over the desk in their room. Anne considers him a stupid buffoon, whose letters and packages to and from his non-Jewish sweetheart could put them at risk of discovery. Though really, he is just a very lonely man, trying to live amongst people he does not know very well.
Three other people – aside from Miep Gies – are responsible for hiding and taking care of the Frank family: Victor Kugler, Bep, and Johannes Kleiman.
Victor Kugler is played by Peter Bolhuis. Bep Voskuijl is played by Suzanne Friedline. Johannes Silberschneider plays Johannes Kleiman.
Kugler and Kleiman help Otto run the business of Pectacon and Gies & Co., and help smuggle things from his home to the annex. Both are arrested along with the 8 people in hiding, held in prison, but are released without any serious harm done to them.
Bep is Otto’s secretary. A quiet girl who seems to always be worried about something. When the Gestapo arrive, Miep sends her home while the officers are distracted upstairs because she seems at the breaking point.
Victor Kugler is played by Peter Bolhuis. Bep Voskuijl is played by Suzanne Friedline. Johannes Silberschneider plays Johannes Kleiman.
Kugler and Kleiman help Otto run the business of Pectacon and Gies & Co., and help smuggle things from his home to the annex. Both are arrested along with the 8 people in hiding, held in prison, but are released without any serious harm done to them.
Bep is Otto’s secretary. A quiet girl who seems to always be worried about something. When the Gestapo arrive, Miep sends her home while the officers are distracted upstairs because she seems at the breaking point.
Some of Anne’s friends are shown in depth.
Hannah Goslar is played by Jade Williams. She is part of quite a religious Jewish family, and you can see that Anne does mock her slightly about that fact. Hannah’s mother dies in childbirth, and she, her father, and little sister are arrested. Spoiler They are held in an exchange camp for German POW’s directly behind Bergen-Belsen. Hannah and Anne meet briefly through the fence where we learn that Mr. Goslar dies. End of Spoiler
Jacque van Maarsen was played by Victoria Anne Brown. She and Anne meet at the Jewish Lyceum, after the Nazis pass a law that all Jewish children must go to a Jewish school run only by Jewish teachers. They become fast friends, best friends, sharing secrets and
dreams with each other, promising that if any of them has to leave Holland, they will write to one another. It breaks Anne’s heart that she is not allowed to write to her friend when they go in hiding. Jacque was the first person after Otto to read Anne’s diary.
Hello Silderberg is played by Nicky Kantor. He and Anne bump into each other in the street and after buying her a hot chocolate, Hello ‘falls in love’with Anne. They briefly ‘date’ each other before the family goes into hiding.
COSTUMES/HAIRSTYLES
From what I have seen of 1940’s fashion, this film is pretty accurate to the times. Edith's dresses and hairstyles before going into hiding are really pretty. Even the different ways that Anne, Margot, and Miep their hair are really gorgeous.
Even the uniforms in Auschwitz look realistic.
RATING
For entertainment purposes, this film gets a 3.5; but for historical accuracy etc, I’d probably give this film a 4.
This film is rated TV-14. The first half if the film is alright, just the issues of the persecution and what to do for the family. It is the second half that earns the rating. There is brief nudity during the hair-cutting scene in Auschwitz, but the scenes at the camp are really horrible. There is no graphic shooting, but just the conditions are so realistic. The dirt, disease, sickness, and sunken look of the prisoners can be disturbing to younger viewers. Spoiler The scene where Margot dies is probably the most disturbing. End of spoiler