#AnneFrank - Parallel Stories

First up, like nearly every other review for this title, I echo the same sentiment- the social media girl had no place in this documentary. That sub-plot added nothing. Absolutely pointless. Next, Helen Mirren. Why? Why the cringey emoting? I get that she is an actor, but we did not need one here. All she had to do was simply read through the book without trying to channel her inner Anne.

The stories of survivors who were born around the same time as Anne Frank were the highlight of the movie, as it should be. Anne would have been 91 today. Tatiana talking about her mother moved me to tears. It was also nice to see the kids and grandkids being interviewed. One could see that they realised they existed in this world because their grandma made it out of Auschwitz. Touching stories.

Is this a docu-drama or an exercise in cinematography? The camera work is superb! But it's overdone and too "artsy-dartsy" for a film of this type. It's also far too long. Nor do I understand how Helen Mirren fits in. She is a favourite of mine. But there seems little point in having her (or anybody else) do an on camera narration. Nor, unlike the original movie, this film would be a confusing mystery to anybody not familiar with Anne Frank's story or the grim history of the period.

Anne Frank is so well known I hoped this documentary would focus at least in equal measure on the "parallel stories" in the title. Unfortunately, I didn't learn much about them. Also, the instagram girl gimmick was useless, with all her #lousyhashtags.

But why the emo girl? She added nothing to the movie.

I enjoyed listening to the stories told by survivors but found the added dramatization - a teen walking around a museum on her cellphone - unnecessary. It's also not a good film for those unfamiliar with Anne's story. In my opinion, it lacked much of the backstory and jumped around too much.