The Diary of Anne Frank

I'm not sure if "The Diary of Anne Frank" was required reading where I went to school. I don't think it was but since in my school days I had a 2 second attention span (which has since improved to 5) and a very short memory, this could be false. Whether it was required reading at my school or not, I felt the need to read it after viewing PBS's masterpiece theatre's "The Diary of Anne Frank" to see if it gave an accurate depiction of Anne Frank and after completing reading it have come to the conclusion that the program's portrayal of her is right on the mark. Screenwriter Deborah Moggach very wisely avoids the temptation of placing Anne Frank on a pedastal and shows her as a very complex girl who even though possessed writing abilities that were beyond her years was still a teenager, no longer a child and not quite yet an adult. As portrayed by Ellie Kendrick, in a remarkable performance, Anne Frank is a girl who is on her way to discovering herself while struggling with relationships under dire circumstances. She adores her father, admires but does not always get along with her older sister Margot, and feels a disconnect from her mother, who she does truly love, but does not in anyway understand. She is also frustrated by the bickerings of Mr and Mrs. Van Damme along with having to share a room with the dentist Mr. Dussel and flirtatiously pursues a relationship with the Van Damme's son Peter who is a few years older than Anne but very shy. Of course all this is going on within the confines of the secret annex Anne, her family, and family's friends are forced to hide out in because of the Nazi's occupation of Holland. Anne is very aware that at any time they could be discovered and sent to die in concentration camps for the "crime" of being Jewish and that many of her friends have probably already perished in these camps but decides to treat it as a strange adventure instead of feeling sad and miserable about it all day. If one wants to pass judgement on Anne Frank's behavior, I would only want to ask them how do you expect a teenage girl to act at this stage of her life. Teenage years are the years of sexual awakening and trying to discover your identity and how you fit into a world that is larger than you imagined as a child. It's asking a great deal for a teenager to always behave properly in free and peaceful times, let alone a teenager trying to do it while the holocaust is going on. This movie succeeds in showing a multi faceted girl,who was right on the verge of becoming a woman, discover her passion and talent for writing. It shows that Anne Frank, while in her more than two years of hiding, gained a keen insight on human characteristics and foibles that are present in her diary and on top of that had the courage to hold the mirror to herself and reveal her positive qualities and character flaws. As the movie comes closer to its conclusion Anne Frank has found her passion for writing and, even though she is unsure if she will be good at it, will pursue it as a career with all her heart. Although she is living at a time when people of her religion are being exterminated, she still has faith in God and believes that people are inherently good and that better times will be on the horizon. Because Anne Frank is shown to be such a complex teenager that is easy to identify with who discovered her passion for writing, the conclusion of her, her family, the Van Dammes, and Mr. Dussel being discovered by the Nazi's and led out of the annex is all the more tragic even though we already know it will happen. The movie's last scene of the maid Miep discovering Anne's diary after she has been taken away does in a way offer some hope. While it is very sad that Anne Frank's potential to be a great writer was never given the chance to develop, she succeeded in her dream of creating something that would live on long after she was gone. If Hitler and the Nazis thought that by exterminating the Jews their memories would fade away soon after, they were badly mistaken. After seeing this movie and reading "The Diary of Anne Frank", I kept thinking of that old quote that "the pen is mightier than the sword". In it's own way, "The Diary of Anne Frank" is a reminder that the pen can also be mightier than the gun, the bomb, the gas chamber, and the most cruel and hateful intentions and deeds of a ruthless dictator.