In 2008, director Ari Forman gave us Waltz With Bashir, an emotional attempt to settle accounts with his own past, when as a teenage soldier he participated in the most violent event of the war between Palestine and Israel. 13 years later, the director's new project hits the theatres, this time focusing on Anne Frank and the diary she wrote while hiding from the Nazis. With this new film, Ari Forman proves that even the animation aiming at families may be as powerful as other classic representatives of the genre.
The story divides into two layers: the first one focuses on Anne Frank, giving the audience the account of the uncertainty and tragedies her and her family went through, with the deportation to the death camp as its culmination.
The second layer concerns Anne's imaginary friend Kitty. As a result of unexplained phenomenon, Kitty awakens from the diary. Not knowing what happened to Anne, she tries to find her by all cost.
Ari Folman seems to be an admirer of animation. He knows how to use the medium so that his movies work in the emotional sphere. Despite some graphic scenes, Waltz With Bashir had many sequences that supplied the story with more poetical scent. Where Is Anne Frank works to some extent in a similar way. However, we never see violence directly. It's toned down, replaced by the imagery resembling the unforgettable animated sequence from Alan Parker's The Wall. When it comes to the characters themselves, not only do they have eye-candy designes, but also their animation is detailed and fluent.
However, the filmmakers never forget during the whole runtime that presentation is just a medium and it's the characters that engage the audience into the story. Even though there is a whole variety of characters in the movie, each of them is properly developed. I especially liked Kitty, as her determination in the investigation makes the story truly engaging and this is the part, where the true message of the story shines out. As the movie goes on, Folman attempts to coin the message about fighting with racial prejudice both in terms of Jews during World War II and the refugees in modern times. Though initially I had problems with seeing the consistency, the director manages to acheive it at the end of the movie.
All sorts of anti-prejudice media, from books to movies, will always be of great importance.
Where Is Anne Frank may be a good subject for conversation between children and their parents. Both groups may take an important lesson of tolerance out of it. In modern times, this is why such stories are of great value.
Let me finish by quoting the dialogue I remembered from the movie the most.
"Anne: Why do people hate us?
Kitty: Because they always need some scapegoat."
