Screenhead

It’s hard to believe that there’s a new version of the movie version–this time via the BBC– of The Diary of Anne Frank, but it exists, and the folks out at IMG just sent me a copy.

This is a fairly old story, told several times, thus the plot remains pretty much the same–it’s based on the true story of Anne Frank, quite possibly the most famous diarist of World War 2.  Anne, along with several other families, spent roughly two years hiding in a warehouse attic in Amsterdam.  The diary in question became a legend in its own right.

And yes, it’s everything you expect.  There’s a whole lot of tension and even some melodrama, along with sadness and happiness and everything.  That’s why it’s hard to say much bad about it–it ends up coming off petty.  The drama has a tendency to get overblown easily, everything near frantic and hysterical.  Of course, part of that is an accurate portrayal of the environment.  When you’re locked up ten deep in a space the size of some people’s basements, of course everything’s going to look a lot bigger than it really is.  A borrowed hairbrush becomes a conspiracy!

But that doesn’t necessarily make it any better to watch.  If anything, that makes it harder.  You almost get annoyed with yourself for getting annoyed with the melodrama.  Is it any less than it should be?

Regardless, The Diary of Anne Frank is as it always was, a compelling visual record of a diariest who never knew her own greatness, yet did as she always wanted–she lived on long after she died.

The Screenhead Ten Scale hands The Diary of Anne Frank an eight out of ten for being a solid if somewhat overblown portrayal of a unique event in all our lives.

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