Anne Frank - The Whole Story (2001)

I must say that I cried like a child when this movie ended. A sad, sad story of life and death during the same World War II. The movie is inspired by a true story and it was written after Anne's diaries. The main character is Anne Frank, a beautiful, dreamy Jewish teenager who dies in a concentration camp during The Second World War. It was said she became a symbol for the one and a half million Jewish children killed in what was called "The Final Solution".

Anne was having a beautiful life with her family, her mum Edith, her father Otto and her elder sister Margot when the war came and everything was turned upside down. They managed to hide for a while together with another Jewish family but they got caught and were sent to a concentration camp. Being moved from a concentration camp to another, Anne, Margot and their mum get sick and die not long before the war ended.

The movie is rich in meanings, I found it hard to get some of them isolated and analyse them for you. Let's get a closer look!

1. Bad Paula and good Paula. It was a story Anne's dad used to tell her at night before the bedtime. Who were bad Paula and good Paula? The two sides of the same coin, the good and the bad, yin and yang all mixed together. Life and death too, considering what happens later in the movie and bad Paula was the winner as it seemed, death was the winner and ravished so many lives...


2. The dream scene. While living in a hidden place, Anne has a dream at some point. She sees herself flying in a beautiful dance, while skating - her wish for freedom, her wish to live her life freely.


3. The nightmare scene. One night, being in the same hidden place, Anne has a nightmare. She sees her friend Hannah dressed up in rags begging for help. She wakes up terrified and goes to her father looking for protection. It was a premonitory dream considering the following events. But it was not Hannah in danger, it was Anne and her entire family.


4. The bells. Being hidden, Anne's only pleasure was to watch people outside and listen to the bells being rung regularly. Probably those bells were the sign that there was still life and hope outside, there was still life and hope for her too.


5. The singing birds. Being in a concentration camp, crawled by lice and eaten by scabies, close to her death day, Anne wakes up one morning and hears the birds singing. She smiles and feels enchanted by the beautiful song of the birds, a proof that despite the horrible twist of her destiny, her heart stayed pure and open to beauty until the end.


6. The final scene. Her father Otto is given back Anne's diary and he hardly touches it with shaking hands. Dreams, hopes, a whole world was hidden there, a world left to live after Anne died.

Every time I watch such movies there is one thought coming to my mind. I am so grateful for everything God has given me and I am not going to complain about anything because I know there were people facing terrible destinies without having any fault.