Search - Anne Frank Remembered on DVD

Linda W. from PEKIN, IL
Reviewed on 1/14/2012...

I would give 5 stars. It was a documentary of what these people had to go through but yet a movie depicting this family's life, their feelings and fears through their point of view. Very informative and well acted, and of course disturbing.

Good At Heart, and In Our Hearts Forever

James Hiller | Beaverton, OR | 03/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Wonderful personal insights from friends and family of Anne

S. Smith | Denver, CO | 02/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

As Good A Biographical Documentary As You Will Ever See

James Hiller | 12/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."