Dear Diary

A few weeks ago, Masterpiece Classic premiered another fantastic TV movie. Unlike those from Jane Austen and the Sisters Bronte, this was a BBC remake of a The Diary of Anne Frank. I finally caught up with it Sunday afternoon. The entire episode is available for online viewing until May 11th, or so, should you have missed it.


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/annefrank/watch.html


I remembering reading the diary in school many years ago but can't recall if I ever saw the original movie(s). This BBC version was very well done. I have a dear friend who visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam a few summers ago and she said after watching it that she wondered if the BBC had permission to film in the museum as it looked so much like the real place.

Here is this young girl, writing for her own sense of understanding and escape--a lot like blogging is now. Yet, her personality and private feelings gave a whole new face and level of reality to the Holocaust that was accessible by young people and old alike. Her struggles were the same of any other 13 or 14 year old girl, and yet her entire life was a captivity for her own survival. Her family along with four strangers lived two years in this tiny annex, constantly fearful of being found out, of making too much noise, of having their helpers discovered.

Anne wrote for her own good, by but doing so she has also helped the rest of us who are privileged to read her diary and learn her story. We are all part of the human family--much more alike than different. She has provided a marvelous discussion for my little family Sunday afternoon on the way to Grandmama's for dinner about not only Jewish beliefs but also the war and the Holocaust.

I'd recommend this version very highly--and make it a family viewing opportunity if you get the chance. It was powerful. As the end comes--and you always know it must--the eight individuals are led down the stairs and off with the Nazis. For each one the frame freezes and the caption appears to tell the viewers of their final fates. They were so close, but not enough to avoid the concentration camps.

This show, though heavy on the reality and evil in the world, also offers a glimpse of a young girl's heart, her hopes, her love of family, and her optimism. And can't we all use a little more of those things even now?