DIRECTOR: Ari Folman
CAST: Ruby Stokes, Emily Carey, Sebastian Croft, Ralph Prosser, Michael Maloney, Samantha Spiro, Skye Bennett, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Stuart Milligan, Andrew Woodall, Ari Folman, Nell Barlow
RUNNING TIME: 99 mins
CERTIFICATE: PG
BASICALLY…: Kitty (Stokes), the imaginary friend of Anne Frank (Carey), comes to life in present-day…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
The story of Anne Frank, known the world over as a tragic tale of persecution during the Second World War, has been adapted countlessly over the years into film, television and stage productions, often recounting the important literature word for word as its message continues to wield relevance to this very day. However, director Ari Folman – best known for his animated documentary Waltz with Bashir, and to a slightly lesser extent his hybrid feature The Congress – offers a much more unconventional approach to the timeless tale with Where Is Anne Frank, which invokes a strong sense of magical realism alongside some very stylish animation, and shifts the focus onto an underappreciated figure in Anne Frank’s diary: the mysterious “Dear Kitty”, Anne’s imaginary friend and the human embodiment of her world-famous journal.
The film begins as Kitty (voiced by Ruby Stokes) magically comes to life from the ink of the diary in the Anne Frank House in modern-day Amsterdam. Immediately, she is confused as to where her best friend Anne Frank (Emily Carey) and the rest of her family have gone, with several strangers now crowding around her room, unaware of the invisible Kitty’s existence. It is only when she departs the tourist hotspot, with the priceless diary in hand, that she becomes not just seen by the outside world, but also a wanted criminal for stealing Anne’s diary. As Kitty learns more and more about the horrifying fate that ultimately befell Anne and her family, she is also drawn into a situation with local refugees who, like Anne before them, are at risk of persecution and inevitable transportation to an unspeakable place.
The idea behind Folman’s film is interesting enough, for it offers a perspective that few other adaptations of Anne Frank’s diary have bothered to incorporate, one that arguably speaks more to the actual figure’s inner thoughts and personality than most other character-building devices. Through flashbacks that show Anne interacting with her trusted imaginary friend, we see a strong sense of imagination that the young Frank daughter apparently carried with her, which is where the stylish animation shines brightest, as it depicts the Nazis as ghoulish humanoid creatures that look like something straight out of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and even an epic Lord of the Rings-style battle sequence with figures of Greek mythology and even Clark Gable on horseback all charging into battle. Folman utilised the medium as much as possible to translate the blossoming creativity that Anne Frank professed in her writing, and with the imagined Kitty herself as not just a full-blown character in her own right but also the film’s protagonist, the filmmaker manages to personify Anne’s adolescent innocence even further with a modern-set fish-out-of-water story that seeks to both reiterate Anne Frank’s ultimate thoughts on the overall goodness in people, and also offer caution over the over-deifying of someone whose messages aren’t exactly being followed to this day.
It is a reasonably mature animated film that gives young children a smooth introduction to the heart-breaking story, and adults an intriguing parallel to some of the persecution being faced around the world today. However, while the ideas, intentions and especially the animation are all solid throughout, Where Is Anne Frank doesn’t quite reach its full potential. Some of the voice acting feels off, with certain performers sounding like they are recording their lines as though it’s the first time they’ve been read, and nearly everyone speaks in odd accents that sound like a bizarre mix of American and British, fluctuating between one another without rhyme or reason. That makes it difficult to really get comfortable with most of these characters, as you’re more distracted by how flat and strange they’re sounding than actually emotionally invested in what should be on paper an incredibly emotional story. Sometimes, the movie will also struggle with tone, leaving the viewer uncertain whether to laugh or be somewhat disturbed (a happy montage of Anne Frank and her family butchering a cow is sure to leave most vegetarians/vegans horrified), and occasionally confused as to what kind of movie they’re watching, such as a couple of instances where the movie suddenly turns into an action movie, complete with police car flips.
As unbalanced as parts of the execution may be, Where Is Anne Frank does have some strong ambition behind it, as well as passion to really stretch the material beyond what the rest of the world already knows about Anne Frank. The ending credits reveal a rather personal connection with Folman to Anne and her family, so there is clearly a great drive by the filmmaker to make his film as accessible and poignant as possible, and while his film doesn’t always work, it’s a bold enough effort to land comfortably among the more unique takes on a tragic piece of wartime literature.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Where Is Anne Frank is an ambitious new take on the classic tale of Anne Frank that boasts strong ideas and stylish animation, though an unbalanced execution that includes some questionable voice acting and occasional tonal problems hinder its otherwise noble intentions.
