Director: Ari Folman
Distributor: Cinéart
Duration: 99 minutes
Where Is Anne Frank (DVD) – Movie Review
With the ongoing war in Ukraine, it’s sad to see that the world has still not learned from what transpired during the Second World War. Once again innocent bystanders suffer the consequences and many families will sadly not see their loved ones come home. This was also the case for Anne Frank’s father, Otto Heinrich Frank, who was the only survivor of the family. After the war, Otto decided to share his daughter’s diary with the world, and this is how almost everyone has heard of Anne Frank, the girl who lived in the secret annex together with her family, the Van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer. Anne was a dedicated writer who always addressed her imaginary friend Kitty in her diary, and that’s exactly what Where Is Anne Frank is all about. In the movie, we’ll see Kitty suddenly take a physical form in our modern times, while she’s trying desperately to find Anne.
Where Is Anne Frank revolves around Kitty (Ruby Stokes), Anne Frank’s (Emily Carey) fictional friend who she always addresses in her diary. For some reason, however, Kitty is suddenly alive in present-day Amsterdam, and she is desperately looking for Anne, or at least learn what happened to her. She will have to overcome many hurdles as she tries to navigate the hustling and bustling big city. She soon learns that, even though Anne Frank has touched the hearts and lives of many, there is still a lot of discrimination going on in the world. As the story progresses, we learn more about Anne, but also about the current struggles illegal immigrants have to deal with.
As a whole, the movie touches on sensitive topics and it succeeds in painting a proper picture for the most part. We loved the concept and the animations, but we also feel the movie dropped the ball on several occasions. The way the German soldiers were depicted in the movie was a bit odd. We understand that for Anne these soldiers must have been absolute monsters, but actually giving them ghastly appearances detracts from the fact that these were ordinary men doing atrocious deeds. The movie gave the impression that these were otherworldly creatures, while in fact they actually looked like regular people. If the movie had depicted them as normal human beings the feeling of dread might have been less but it would have also warned children and teenagers that normal human beings could commit heinous acts. The second issue we had was that the movie eventually compares the struggles of many Jewish people during the Second World War with the current situation with illegal immigrants. We do believe that the situation concerning illegal immigrants is an important one to address, but the comparison in this movie felt a bit forced and just not that accurate. Nonetheless, we believe the message of this movie is one to be valued, but it felt a bit unnatural to the point that it will probably have an opposite effect than what the movie is aiming for.
As we watched both the English and Dutch versions of the film, we perhaps ended up liking the Dutch version a bit more (as the movie takes place in The Netherlands after all), but even so, the English voice cast does a formidable job bringing the characters to life. Movies such as this often suffer from heavy overacting, and this wasn’t the case here. The characters feel realistic and authentic, and even Kitty, who was originally only a figment of Anne Frank’s imagination, feels like a fully developed human being with loads of different emotions. That being said, even if you’re an English viewer, be sure to give the Dutch version a try as well.
The DVD version of Where Is Anne Frank sadly does not come with any extras or special features whatsoever. This is a shame, as it would have been great to add a bit of additional information on both World War II and the current situation with illegal immigrants and what they have to endure. Adding extra features revolving around these two topics would have made the movie’s message even more powerful.
Conclusion
Where Is Anne Frank is a great watch for young and old, and it provides an interesting take on the legacy of the young girl who spent years in the secret annex. We were very impressed by the animations and the family-friendly story of the film, but we did find the comparison between the mass genocide of Jewish citizens and the current situation with illegal immigrants a bit too forced. We completely respect the movie bringing this topic to attention, but it didn’t always hit its mark as it could have. That being said, this movie is still a very easy recommendation for children, teenagers, and young adults (and of course their parents), as it serves as a valuable lesson of what transpired during this dark period in our history.
Where Is Anne Frank (DVD) - Movie Review,
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