Customer Reviews

Anne Frank Remembered [VHS]

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Young, rascally Anne Frank, if not for the extraordinary circumstances of her life, may have grown up to be a writer, a movie star, or any of the other thousand things she dreamed and fantasized about, as any adolescent girl does. Instead, she has become an icon, a symbol of hope, and an inspiration to millions of people around the world who have suffered under the hands of despotism and fear. This DVD serves as a documentary, and tribute, to this amazing girls life.

Directed by Jon Blair, who previously produced a documentary on the life of Oskar Schindler, brings his skills and expertise to bringing to life the life of Anne and her family as they first flee Germany to set up her home in Amsterdam, and then, to flee into hiding once German invades the Netherlands. As told through the eyes of her childhood friends, Anne is precocious, impish and fun. Interviews with Lies Gosslar and others provide first hand accounts about her, and make her real and authentic, not grandios or distorted, as the tendency may be for someone as famous as Anne. This documentary also doesn't shy away from Anne's burgeoning sexuality and her feelings about her adolscence, which provides a more complete picture of this girl.

The documentary moves into the Frank family needing to hide from the Nazis in their Secret Annex, and we meet the impressive Miep Gies, who sustained the people living there for two years. The footage of Miep in the Annex itself was astounding, and her testimony honest and compelling. A scene in which the son of Fritz Pfeffer, the Jewish dentist who also hid in the Secret Annex, meets Miep in Annex itself reduced me to tears in an instant; kudos to Blair for making this reunion happen and capture it on film. Amazing cinema.

What I appreciated most about this documentary occurs after everyone in captured from the Annex and forced into the hands of the Nazis. Blair painstakingly recounts the final months of the Franks lives, which in past documentaries seems to be rushed over. Blair brings Jewish survivors who knew the Franks back to the camps they were imprisoned in, and shared their experiences. The effect is chilling, and allows us to truly understand the last months of Anne's life more than I ever have before. He brings back Lies to talk about being with Anne during her last few days; incredible.

Also amazing, Blair digging up a very brief movie clip of Anne herself, leaning out the window watching a wedding happen on her street. The twelve year old girl becomes even more alive as we see her, hair blowing in the wind, looking up and behind her, not knowing what her fate will be in just a few years.

Anne Frank so longed to be known around the world, dreaming of becoming a famous writer, and even began to prepare her diary for publication after the war. While she never lived to see that occur, her legacy and gift to the world, through her inspirational words, remains with us today. And this documentary serves as an excellent tribute to her short, short life.

Let me start out by saying that this is the best documentary I've ever seen. I now know why it won an Academy award. This movie shows you everything you'd ever need to know about Anne Frank. It tells the story the occupants of the annex from when they all met and from the day they died. Glen Close reads excerpts for the diary, and there are many interviews of people who knew Anne, her sister Margot, and her parents. I think the best part was the last part. It starts out by saying there was a wedding on the Merwiederplein (Anne's apartment building before she went into hiding). The person who is filming it first shows the wedding on the ground then the overlookers looking at the wedding from their windows. He scrolls up and there is Anne Frank, herself. It is a brief moment but it is breathtaking. This is the only moving footage of her that they know of. I would also recommend viewing this tape with the Anne Frank House CD-rom... I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I do!

After having visited the Annne Frank House last month in Amsterdam I was anxious to learn more about her brief life and times. I bought this video recently and have seen it over an over many times. Anne comes alive through the interviews with Miep Gies, Hannah Goslar and her father Otto. Rather then the canonized person we tend to view her as she is in many ways a typical early adolescent; petulant, self centered, critical, sweet, intelligent and gentle - a person with strong likes and dislikes. The most moving part of the documentary was a first time meeting between the son of "Alfred Dussel" (in reality Dussel was Fritz Pfeffer - the Dentist who shared a room with Anne) whose name was Peter Pepper. It really brought tears to my eyes and then we are told that two months after the meeting he died of cancer. Also at the very end of the documentary is a home movie made of a wedding in Amsterdam in 1941 where the cameraman looks up and we see Anne Frank watching the wedding party - it is the only known moving image of her.

"She is, perhaps, Hitler's most famous victim" is one of the opening lines spoken by Kenneth Brannagh. I saw this riveting video first on A&E, before it was released as a Feature Film-Documentary. When it won the Oscar for it's category the entire theater rose to it's feet as Meip Gies was brought on stage. I cried then as I did when I first saw the video. Anyone, Jew or Gentile, who feels a connection to Anne Frank and her story of heartbreak and hope will treasure this video forever. Anne's former classmates and concentration camp victims tell their stories with true human insight. "I still believe that people are really good at heart" -Anne Frank

Ever since I read The Diary of Anne Frank as a child I have always wanted to know about the girl behind the book, and Anne Frank Remembered is perfect for that purpose. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, with selected readings from Anne's diary by Glenn Close, this video paints a haunting, heartbreaking portrait of one of Hitler's most famous victims through the personal reminiscences of her surviving friends as well as others who survived the Nazi death camps. There are excerpts from interviews with the late Otto Frank, Anne's father, as well as interviews with Miep Gies (the woman who supplied the Secret Annex as well as keeping it and its occupants hidden from the SS), Hanneli Goslar (Anne's friend), and Peter Pfeffer (son of dentist Fritz Pfeffer, who was also in the Secret Annex), among many others. They all paint a picture of a young girl who was just on the brink of womanhood when she died, and who had a lot of hope for the future. Anne was the typical obnoxious youngster, and yet when one listens to the words of Miep Gies and others who knew her well, their words combine with the images on the video to show that Anne was so much more than what she seemed to be on the surface--forced by circumstance to grow up before her time, but at the same time able to retain that youthful hope.

Watch the video by itself, or read The Diary of Anne Frank and then watch the video--Anne Frank Remembered will stick in your mind for a long time.

Anne Frank Remembered's greatest strength is in it's interviews. From Otto Frank (a interview conducted in 1976) to Miep Gies this documentary really brings Anne Frank from a name, face and diary to an actual person. The video also shows some great history and background, and many more interviews; her cousin Bernd, people who knew both her and Otto in various concentration camps. And also her friend Hanneli Goslar (nicknamed Lies at school) and a brief meeting (the one and only I think) between Fritz Pfeffer's (Albert Dussel in the diary) son and Miep Gies. This video does feature the only know moving footage of Anne herself, I learned about that by reading the other reviews here. An excellent documentary, but it is best to have at least read her diary first, and also good to have a bit of general knowledge about everyone involved(helpers and resident's of the Secret Annex), and maybe what they looked like in the '40's because some of them are featured in this documentary.

Anne Frank's high activity level as a little girl is that which is often seen in highly gifted babies and young children; that Anne became a gifted writer is no accident. When a child is very young, the energetic pace is often one sign of of a highly active mind. I wanted first to clear that up, since some viewers may take second-hand accounts of "naughtiness" at face value. I believe that Anne Frank deserves nothing less than the highest praise, regardless of how people who were raised more strictly may describe her as a little girl.

The film itself is breathtakingly real. That such a precious child should have been treated by the Nazis in such a horribly unhuman manner is unthinkable to those who have any shred of human decency. That anyone should be treated in such a brutal manner by virtue of their ethnicity, religion, color or creed, is inhumanity at its lowest depths and should never, ever happen again.

Miep Gies is a heroine of vast and far-reaching proportions for hiding the Franks, the Van Pelses and the dentist, though she says she was just being a human being. She was a courageous and kind woman who, like Anne Frank herself, serves as a model of the highest caliber for humanity to follow. Otto Frank also served as an important role model for his parenting methods, for allowing the child Anne to be herself and to grow in her own way, in her own time.

If it hadn't been for the Nazi holocaust, Anne and her sister, along with the others, would have been free to live and let live, and Anne would have undoubtedly become one of the most prolific and inspiring writers of all time, traveling the globe and meeting the movie stars whose photos she still has pasted on the walls of the Anne Frank museum.
Shame on the Nazis for curtailing and making an actual, living hell of this beautiful little girl's life and depriving her and her loved ones and fellow Jews all over Europe of their freedom, well-being and happiness.

Thank you for this film which is a testament to caring and kind and courageous people like Miep Gies and company,without whom this world would be a dreadful place indeed.

May this never happen again, to anyone anywhere in the world, lest the diary and life of Anne Frank be in vain.

As I have only recently purchased this excellent videotape, I had already viewed ABC-TV's 2001 presentation of "Anne Frank". I have also read - in depth - several books on Hitler's most famous victim in addition to the protagonist's own diary. Therefore, the dramatic impact of most of "Anne Frank Remembered" was diluted slightly. However, its merits and its poignancy cannot be undermined. The story of Anne Frank's brief, tragic life deserves to be told - and re-told - into the ages. And who better to tell it than the formidable Miep Gies - the stalwart and trustworthy employee and friend who, with her husband Jan and several others, gave shelter, solace and friendship to the Frank family during their difficult 26 months in hiding. Gies's halting English does not diminish her power during this video. Intermittently struggling with pronunciation, she never wavers in dedication, principle and moral courage. The safekeeping and eventual publication of Anne's diary is the direct result, of course, of Miep's protectiveness and integrity. Without her, this precious legacy would have been just another plundered treasure in Nazi hands - surely the ultimate violation. It has been nearly 60 years since the German surrender, but we must never forget the facility with which so many otherwise law-abiding citizens pledged their fealty to a madman's unalloyed evil. This priceless videotape also contains a very moving testament to the enduring power of goodness. A pivotal scene in which the son of Fritz Pfeffer (Miep's dentist who resided with the Franks in their hiding place) meets his father's protector for the first time never fails to bring tears. Already ravaged by the cancer that would take his life shortly after this scene was filmed, the son of a father he barely knew pays noble tribute to the woman who stood strong against tyranny and oppression. In so doing, she added more than two years to his father's life. This tender and wrenching scene brings to mind the epilogue from "The Tribunal," an episode of the TV series "The Outer Limits." Sam Egan, the show's producer whose father survived the Holocaust, intoned the following wise and wonderful words: "The wounds of war run deep - cutting across generations. But there is always the hope of healing - so long as there are souls among us whose hearts are more full of love than hate." My deepest admiration and praise to the indomitable Miep Gies - and all who were like her - during a time when human fortitude and conscience were put to the ultimate test.

After reading Anne's diary, Muller's biography of Anne and the book "Anne Frank Remembered", I watched this video in absolute awe as before my eyes several of the people Anne wrote about were there on the screen - alive not just people whom I had read about in books. The use of photographs and interviews of Miep (who was the main caretaker for the families in hiding), Otto (Anne's father) and Anne's girlfriends were incredible. Hearing about this story from those who lived it gives a new dimension to this historic saga. There were no actors in this film. I found myself watching in tears, both for what had happened years ago and for how these people had such strength and vision to spread Anne's gift to the world. Anne Frank was only one of countless numbers of people who have been killed and continue to die due to intolerance of many sorts. This video left me feeling that each person is as important to the world as Anne Frank was and still is. This is a deeply moving video, the use of actual video footage of Anne in the closing scene is haunting as it shows Anne as a 12 year old child watching people from a balcony, a carefree looking child who has no idea that her future words will continue to inspire those of us fortunate to have come to know about her.

This real world, real people edition of Anne's life, and her impact upon the world is impeccable. I cannot top the other reviewers descriptions, they cover it all so very well, except to add that if anyone is dedicated to keeping the holocaust alive in history, and has any dedication to the ShoahFoundation, then yes by all means, get this documentary. It was wonderful to see Anne's childhood friends in this, who knew her, and to hear Miep speak of those days and all they endured. This was real, not any Hollywood contrived script. As an avid collector of realistic documentaries of history, this one is one of the very best.