Anne Frank Remembered MPAA Rating: PG Entertainment: +3 Content: +4

"She is perhaps Hitler's most famous victim," says narrator Kenneth Branagh. Known mostly through the various translations and interpretations of her diaries, this Oscar winning documentary gives more substance to the character of Anne Frank. Glenn Close reads excerpts from the diaries, while friends and relatives of the Franks tell their recollections of the family, both before and during concentration camps. Friends describe Anne as a sometimes naughty child, disrupting parties with temper tantrums and occasionally throwing her double-jointed shoulder out of socket to get attention. Fleeing Nazi control, her Jewish family moves to Amsterdam, but after the Germans conquer the Netherlands, restrictions on Jewish people begin. Otto Frank prepares a hiding place in his place of business and trusts his family's lives to a loyal secretary, Miep Gies. When the Franks are betrayed and arrested, Miep saves the diaries dumped on the floor by Nazi looters. A number of heartbreaking moments occur as circumstances that might have preserved the family are missed. Although Anne finds old friends in the camps, the belief that all her family has died takes away her will to live. Only Anne's father, Otto, survives the ordeal, not knowing the fate of his two daughters. When he learns of their death, Miep gives him the diaries she saved. Otto is seen in film interviews after the diaries became famous, and for one brief moment, Anne is seen at a window when a film shot on their street catches her. Without the usual sentimentality, this powerful film captures the spirit of a bright young girl in the midst of terrible times.

Brief scenes of the Nazis dragging innocent people from their homes underscore the comments of survivors. However, exploitive pictures are avoided. While it is much too intense for young children, ANNE FRANK REMEMBERED has no offensive content for mature audiences. This is a film worth seeing to remember not only Anne Frank, but also to remind us of our responsibility to make sure the horror of the Holocaust is never repeated.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics