Anne Frank Movie Analysis

The Diary of Anne Frank : Movie V.S. Play

Last week, our class viewed the Anne Frank movie, shortly after finishing reading the play. Anne Frank was and still is one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust, a dark and bleak time in human history. Many people know of her time spent in the “Annex”, the attic above her father’s office. But many people don’t know of her life before, or maybe even after she was arrested from the Annex. The last week, we studied the life of this young girl in form of both film and theater, and while both gave an inspirational, while solem message, there were some major and minor differences that resulted in one giving, in my opinion, a more powerful message, but you will learn that in due time. For now, I’ll …show more content…
In the movie, you go through the rises and falls of hope at the same time the family does, and you get to know these people. Anne Frank, the happy little girl who loves to write and wants to be someone extraordinary when she grows up. Mr. Van Pels, who is greedy, bitter, and afraid for his future. In the movie, you get to see how the people before the Annex, and how their time in the attic changed them. This is shown by Anne’s words during her time in the Annex “ In spite of everything that has happened, I still believe people are good at heart.” But while in the camps, she changes her mind. She says that she was wrong, and that the Nazis are evil, and no one can argue with her. In the play, it ends on a hopeful note, noting that Anne was “no longer a child, but a women with the courage to meet whatever lies ahead.” I believe the authors wanted her part in the play to end positively, so they included it. Really, one can only guess what was going through Anne’s mind as she left, because from that point on, she no longer could keep a diary, which is why the play (because it is based off of her diary) ends here. I think that the play wanted to show her being heroic, and brave, and the movie wanted to show us what a dark time the Holocaust was. Here was a time when, just because you were Jewish, you were taken from your homes and murdered. The play …show more content…
For me, it was an easy and quite obvious decision. It was, of course, the movie. As I 've mentioned before, with the movie you see the rises and falls of hope, but you also sense an overwhelming consciousness of their doom from the adults of the Annex. The somberness grows when the residents are taken from their homes, stripped of clothes, identity, and dignity, and forced to do manual labor in the camps. Watching this girl, my age when the story begins, and seeing how chaotic and awful her life became within a few years. Maybe it is the actors, their ability to convey such strong emotions, or perhaps it was just seeing the injustices performed on the Jews. The movie forces you to accept this as a reality, and informs about the thousands of children who died during the Holocaust, and that Anne Frank was only one of many. At this part, some of my fellow members of the audience began even to cry, and this is how I know that this movie made an emotional connection with not only me, but other members of my class. I could hardly speak for many minutes afterwards, and the devastating end of Anne’s life is still fresh in mind. So, yes. I do think the movie meant more. It showed the darker side, and was a grim reminder of the horror of the Holocaust, and a memorial to the people who died in or because of the harsh conditions of the