The Diary of Anne Frank (2009)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A lot of fun.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's 1942 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Otto Frank (Iain Glen) brings his wife Edith (Tamsin Greig), his daughters Margot (Felicity Jones), and Anne (Ellie Kendrick) to hide in a secret annex above his food and spice warehouse. They must keep quiet during the work day. Only the office staff Miep Gies (Kate Ashfield), Bep Voskuijl (Mariah Gale), Mr Kugler (Tim Dantay), and Mr Kleiman (Roger Frost) know the secret. The Franks are joined by Hermann Van Daan (Ron Cook), his brash wife Petronella (Lesley Sharp), and their son Peter (Geoff Breton). The final addition is dentist Albert Dussel (Nicholas Farrell) who becomes Anne's roommate. In the confined space, the personal conflicts mount. The Allies are closing in and freedom is almost at hand.This is like the Titanic. The sinking is inevitable but the story is still so compelling. Anne's modern humanity is undeniable. The performances are pitch perfect. Each character is well-defined and engaging. Ellie Kendrick is terrific in the lead. The mini-series ends with their capture. It makes no speculation about their informer. Their tragic ends are spelled out in text. I guess their horrific endings are subject for another time.

The Diary of Anne Frank (2009) tells about the experiences of Anne Frank and seven other people, who had to go hiding.It was all because they were Jews and Adolf Hitler was a psychopath.He and his Nazi regime.The story is told in five half-hour episodes.Ellie Kendrick was a very good pick to play Anne Frank.Geoff Berton is great as Peter Van Daan (Pels).Felicity Jones is marvelous as Margot Frank, who would have turned 85 a week ago.Iain Glen is terrific as Otto Frank.Tamsin Greig is great as Edith Frank.Nicholas Farrell is excellent as Mr Dussel (Fritz Pfeffer).Lesley Sharp and Ron Cook do great work as Petronella and Hermann Van Daan.Tim Dantay is brilliant as Mr Kugler.And so is Roger Frost as Mr Kleiman.Mariah Gale is wonderful as Bep Voskuijl.Kate Ashfield is superb as Miep Gies, their lovely helper.This Good Samaritan sadly lost her life at 100 on January last year.This gives a very realistic picture of the events.It's horrible to watch when the Gestapo arrives.You cry when Anne is shaking, unable to tie her shoes, and Dussel helps her.The relationship between Anne and Peter is beautifully portrayed.And the words of the actual diary sound very good.I read the diary about eight years ago, and it is one of the best things I have ever read.Right now I'm reading Carol Ann Lee's Anne Frank 1929-1945.If they would have left Anne to go on with her life, she could be a famous writer now.But her fate, her Jewish fate was to die at age 15.

I love a good TV drama, and The Diary of Anne Frank is that. Along with Occupation, it was one of the highlights of 2009, having been profoundly moved and disturbed by the events detailed in Anne Frank's diary since I was a little girl in primary school, this was a harrowing, poignant, sensitive and wonderfully acted mini-series that stayed true to the book. The mini-series is exquisite to look at, stunning costumes and settings, and the house was exactly like the house in real life. The writing is unusually sensitive, I never felt the mini-series got overly-dramatic or overly-sentimental, quite the opposite, and I think the writing really helped with that. The direction is excellent, and the music is haunting and evocative. It was the acting though where the Diary of Anne Frank really soared. Ellie Kendrick, instead of the obnoxious teenager she could have been, made for an intelligent yet somewhat lively Anne, very like the Anne in the book. Iain Glen is charming as the perfect father figure and Tamsin Grieg is luminous and quiet as the mother. Lesley Sharp is exceptional as Petronella, a selfish and independent matriarch, her actions were very entertaining. Then there is the sudden discovery, even for those who had read the book it was emotional, intense and sudden. Overall, this is a brilliant mini-series, in my opinion it is a must see! 10/10 Bethany Cox

One can only be grateful to the BBC, which (along with a lot of rubbish) produces so many worthwhile, thoughtful and carefully crafted programmes.This is one of them. The story of Anne, her family, Peter's family and the dentist has been dramatised with great attention to detail and sensitivity. The sets seem to be exact recreations of the real hiding place in Amsterdam.Ellie Kendrick is a great find as Anne. She is quite a good look-alike and convincingly acts Anne's personality. This version is far from painting her as a saint. She is portrayed as quite selfish and petulant, and cruel towards her mother. This seems to be truthful.Most of the rest of the cast are good, and are also have quite a good resemblance to the real people they represent.I only have doubts about the actor playing Peter. He is way too old for the part. A man of 24 is not suitable to play a boy of 16, try as he might. To make matters worse, his face seems to have been painted pink and white to make him seem younger, but this merely looks unnatural.However, this is a minor blemish in a very good production.