Customer Reviews

Biography - Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl (A&E DVD Archives)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a nice video overview of the life of Anne Frank produced by A&E's Biography. The people at Biography almost always do a nice job and this episode is no exception. There's not a lot of detail but there are some nice interviews with people like Otto Frank and Miep Gies. Hearing their voices adds something for those who have only read of them. This is what I think is the true power of videos like this--it allows readers to put faces and voices to names.

I think this video is also nice because is fills in the spaces around the period covered by Anne in her diary, particularly what happened after the Franks were arrested and Anne could no longer write. It is important for people who have only read the diary itself to become aware of these other events.

On the other hand, no video (even the best of them--Anne Frank Remembered) can presently compete with the quality of written material out there. There are so many excellent books covering every segment of Anne's life that it would be a shame for someone who is truly interested in Anne to limit themselves to this video.

Although just under an hour, the 1998 A&E Biography special on Anne Frank does a wonderful job of exploring her life and the positive effects her diary has had on the world. Interviews include a 1979 clip from Anne's father Otto, Miep Gies, and childhood friends Hanneli Goslar and Jaqueline van Maarsen.

Helmuth "Hello" Silberberg, a good friend of Anne's shortly before the Franks went into hiding, also shares his memories of the girl. His brief but interesting clip is reason enough to check this out. It's not said on the special, but Hello and his family were liberated in Belgium the very same day the members of the Secret Annex were shipped from Westerbork to Auschwitz. How tragic is that?

Hannah recalls her short reunion with her friend over a Bergen Belsen fence and Anne's miserable, lonely death of typhus (just a few day after her sister Margot's) is sobering, to say the least. However, her legacy continues when a Broadway play about her life in hiding opens to rave reviews in 1955 and a film adaptation follows a few years later.

Unfortunately, both take her famous line "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart" out of context in order to paint her as a saint. Many of the interviewed subjects point out that Anne was a creature of her moods like the rest of us. She constantly wrestled with her feelings about war and mankind, but she was loved because she was a regular girl like all the other girls. Except that she had an extraordinary talent for writing.

For a more detailed portrait of Anne, I'd recommend the documentary Anne Frank Remembered. But this is one isn't a bad place to start.

This is a must for readers and admirers of the diary of Anne Frank. In effect, the DVD completes the story--what was life like before the Frank family went into hiding, and what became of the family members after the family was discovered. All that is missing is the name and motive of the person who reported the family to the Gestapo.

There are many photos of the participants, photos I'd never seen. There is also a too-brief tour of the Annex where Anne wrote her diary--and photos of the diary itself.

Among those interviewed on camera are Otto Frank, Anne's father, Miep Gies who risked her life to help the people hiding in the Annex, girlhood friends of Anne, and a girl who saw Anne in her last days at Bergen Belsen concentration camp.

But beware: this is all but certain to clear out the tear ducts. As any reader of the diary knows, this is a great tragedy, the story of a great loss.

Anne Frank lives-in spirit. One of the strongest and certainly youngest chronicler of the holocaust. She is such a heroine role model for today's confused youth. A "must see" VHS and please don't forget a book or other readers/media by the same title. Great for discussion beginning with 10 years olds through middle school. (Not just for girls as Elie Wiesel is not just for boys). "Live life", is the message I get and if you must suffer it than do it with class and even with a sense of curiosity and adventure. And, when you die there will be a definite sense of history waiting for you. Or, should I say an infinite sense of having been and is that not the same as immortality?

A horrible time indeed! Time was too short for this little girl and her family and if it wasn't for the safe keepings of her diary and friends to tell about it, we wouldn't know about her today. Like all wars, it is bitter and cruel!

Though this is a well-made documentary on Anne Frank, author of The Diary of a Young Girl, I personally feel Anne Frank Remembered packs a more emotional punch whilst tracing the life of this remarkable young woman who perished too young at the hands of the monstrous Nazis. Anne Frank was a pretty and intelligent young girl who together with her family had to suffer persecution at the hands of the Nazis because they were Jewish. The family went into hiding when Anne was thirteen and they remained in hiding for more than 2 years before they were betrayed and arrested by the Nazis. Anne eventually died of typhus in Bergen Belsen concentration camp, and of her family, only her father Otto survived the Holocaust.

This A&E Biography of Anne is well-produced and provides interesting insights into Anne's life. There are interviews with Anne's father and one of their friends (who helped them whilst they were in hiding), Miep Gies, a woman of remarkable courage and compassion. It also covers the period after the Franks' arrest. There is no definitive production out there which provides a comprehensive picture of Anne's life before, during and after hiding. Besides the documentary mentioned above, I would recommend two fictional dramatizations of Anne, i.e. Anne Frank - The Whole Story which is faithful to "The Diary of a Young Girl" and also provides a compelling reimagining of what happened to Anne and her family after they were arrested, right up to the moment of her death. The other production which is relatively new yet well-made, is The Diary of Anne Frank (As Seen On BBC). These two productions try to be as faithful as they can to the actual story of Anne and I highly recommend them for those who would like to gain a better understanding of Anne's life and writing. Of course, there are many books on the subject. Besides the diary itself, there's:
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary - A Photographic Remembrance
Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex
Inside Anne Frank's House: An Illustrated Journey Through Anne's World
Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family
The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition

This is the first documentary film I've seen where we meet Hello Silverberg. Hello, was Anne's first boyfriend before she went into hiding.
It is a definite plus that he was interviewed for this piece. Not many people realize that Anne would be 79 years old as of June 2008. I do believe that she would have gone far in life had she lived. It's good that they interviewed so many for this documentary. It's sad that most of the Franks helpers could not be interviewed. The only surviving hero who helped the Franks is Miep Gies. I would also recommend the book on Victor Kugler which has been published recently. He was the Mr. Kraler Anne spoke of in her diary. He had a very interesting story to tell. Not much press is given to the fact that the 2 male office workers who helped hide the Franks also went to concentration camps. They did survive them but it was a horrific experience. I could spend hours watching a good documentary on Anne especially from the Biography channel. Anne represents all the people and all the children that have been the victims of hatred in this world. Because she was so gifted, I want to hear everything she said. A terrible tragedy the death of these 2 girls Anne and her sister Margot and all the other victims of Hitler's Regime of terror. So unnecessary and tragic.

This is an interesting introduction to Anne frank, author of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, and The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition probably second only to Anne Frank Remembered, generally considered to be the definitive Anne Frank documentary (for good reason). Contains all of the expected interviews with those who knew her and were still alive and some archive footage of those who are now dead (Otto Frank).

This was the best biograhpy i have ever seen.

very good, but touchin