The film, The Diary of Anne Frank, is based off a diary written by Anne Frank who was a Jewish girl hiding with her family and another family during World War II. The film opened up with the sound of church bells and footage of a truck with survivors of the holocaust. The truck stopped by a factory located in Amsterdam. A man stepped out of the truck and entered the factory and walked up the stairs to the attic which looked like a family once lived there. It turns out the man is Otto Frank and this is where he realized his family is gone. When realized what happened, Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies showed up. At this point, Miep Gies found Anne Frank’s diary and she handed it to Otto Frank.
The film transitioned to the date, July 1942, and at this point Anne Frank starts talking about herself and discussing what Jews could and could not do, which is why Anne Frank and her family ended up hiding in the attic of the factory. They shared the hiding place with another family of Jews who were the Van Dann’s. During the day time when the workers were in the factories the Frank’s and the Van Dann’s had to be silent so no one knew they were hiding up there. When the first day ended, Kraler brought them food, and box for Anne of pictures of her favorite movie stars and a diary. Most days after work Mr. Kraler would visit them in the attic with his assistant. Whenever he would visit them, he had to knock so Otto Frank knew who was knocking at the door so he does not open the door and it ends up being a police officer. At some point during their hiding Mr. Kraler brought them a radio in a book so they can find out what is going on outside and the progress of the war.
As time went on Otto Frank decided to school Anne and Margot who is her sister. As they are hiding, they constantly hear bombs going off all around them. As time went on, Kraler asked if they can take in one more Jew who is a Dentist named Albert Russell, they say yes but after they take him in they complain about the amount of food they go through. The Jewish dentist tells them how bad the conditions are outside the wall of the factory. Some of the conditions going on outside are jews being sent to concentration camps and he verified that Anne Frank’s friends have been arrested when she asked. As time passed, they all ended up fighting with each other and became very unhappy. At this point Anne started hitting puberty and growing into a young lady and has no one to talk to because she’s not close with her sister and is always fighting with her mother.
At one point, someone broke into the factory to try to steal money but hears a noise coming from above the office and ran. But a man says the door wide open and had to police officers check the place but the cat saved the two families life by meowing because the police officers thought it was an outside cat. As time went on while being locked up they listened to the radio to find out what was going on and this how they found out about Normandy Invasion. At the end of the film, the German police officers stormed through the doors and got through the bookcase door and arrested all of them. The film then transitioned to the year 1945, when Otto Frank explained that everyone that hide in this room has died but he always had faith that Anne would fight through because her optimism because she always believed everyone has a good heart.
There are a few themes that developed through the film. Throughout the film there is a pattern of loneliness and confinement from developing into a young lady. Becoming an adult and going through puberty can be difficult but it is even more difficult when living in Anne Franks environment. What makes it even more difficult is that she has no one to talk to because she’s not close to her sister and she is always fighting with her mom. She is close with her father but cannot share everything with him. This is all connected with being alone and confined from talking about it with someone. Even when Peter who is a young boy who is staying with them becomes close to her, he cannot even help because his lack of matureness. The diary also follows many roadblocks thought-out the years of growing up like being a Jew in German controlled Eastern Europe and how the genders are viewed.
Another theme that appears throughout the movie is how others that do not understand what was going on, they were generous and risked their lives to help the Jews like Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies who hide the Jews from the Germans. But within the walls there was greed because when they took in Albert Russell he turned into like Peter’s mom who is greedy like when she refused to sell her coat and when she started to hide the bread. He became greedy because he did not want Peter to keep his cat that he had because he was allergic but did not care about anyone else besides himself and this is the only attachment he had with anything was his cat until him and Anne grew closer. The film shows that even the citizens who are non- Jews will risk their lives but the Jews hiding who knows how it feels would not try to help each other throughout this difficult time. Throughout the film some develop into heroes and villains. The two biggest heroes in the film is Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies because they risked everything in their lives to save and hid this Jews in Nazi occupied area. The biggest villain in this film are the Nazis who are arresting the Jews and killing them.
Throughout the film, these used many cinematic techniques and devices to covey the plot and theme throughout the film. The sounds they use like the church bells mean to be quiet because it tells them what time of the day it is and they use it as a tool to know when they need to go silent. The German police truck sirens tell them that they are arresting Jews and it adds the suspense just as the church bells do. The director and producer focus in on the outside sounds at some points like airaid sirens, the truck sirens, even the bombing at night when they are being attacked. They used music to make the viewer feel the suspense towards the scene. The use of black and white in the film is used to show how dark the time period was and how the Frank and family and the other family felt throughout the film. The camera angles they used also showed when the scene was very stressful on the Jews that were hiding like Anne Frank and Peter. The scene that really showed the emotions of the characters was when the bombing was happening and when the glass broke and the camera was on everyone hiding in the attic. That scene showed the stress looks they all had because of the events happening.
The viewer is given a visual feel throughout the film for the period and the events throughout the film. The director and producer use many techniques to have the viewer get a visual feel. As an example, when the camera points towards out the windows like during the bombing of the city, makes you as a viewer feel what was going on and how everyone felt in the attic of the factory. Another example, is when the Germans are banging on the door of the factory and the bookcase. These scenes make you feel like you are actually in the attic panicking. Another scene that gives the viewer a visual feel is at the end when Anne Frank was starting to tear up when the German police officers came to arrest them, which as a viewer made me tear up a little because they worked and got so far to just get arrested.
The film The Diary of Anne Frank, is used to primarily inform, arouse emotions. In my opinion, I do not believe the film is used to persuade or entertain because what would they persuade in this film because everything that was going on actually happened. Also, I do not see this film as entertainment because the topic of the film which is the holocaust and I do not find the holocaust very entertaining or anything about the topic. The film is very much towards to inform the viewer of what actually happened in that part of Europe in World War II. Anne even mentioned about if someone finds my diary that will be used to tell them what she and her family went through and so she can tell them about the hardships she went through as she was growing up.
This film portrays what actually happened during the holocaust. The footage the director used showed the hardships that the Franks and the other family went through while hiding in the factory. From what I learned in other history classes about the holocaust many families, just like other families that hid, the Franks dealt with lack of food, tight spaces. Another concept that is common when they were hiding Jews in Eastern Europe was that they say the Jews leave to an area where they are free from any Nazi occupied areas. But if they did not run, they all hid like behind bookcases, paintings coving a door just like in the movie. Some of the poor conditions that are realistic that I saw in the film