The Short Life of Anne Frank

Narrated by Jeremy Irons, this half-hour documentary revisits the life of famous Jewish concentration camp victim Anne Frank. Much of Anne's story--her confinement for 25 months in an Amsterdam secret annex with her parents, older sister, and another family; her capture and eventual death at Bergen-Belsen; and the subsequent popularity of the book based on the red-plaid diary she kept while in hiding--is well-known, but this program offers an excellent overview, employing a voiceover actress reading diary excerpts as Anne, combined with pertinent archival footage. Geared toward grades 5 and up, The Short Life of Anne Frank uses plain but candid language (“It's getting dangerous for Jews…”) to describe the Nazi horrors and detail the Franks' experiences before, during, and after the family's seclusion, including worries about friends, their reliance on radio for information, and the fact that Anne even rewrote pages of her diary in the hopes of someday being published. Featuring age-appropriate details--we're told that Anne slept in the same room as the adult Fritz Pfeffer, but no mention is made of the inappropriate touching by Pfeffer that Anne details in her diary--the most impressive segment is a brief film clip (believed to be the only existing footage) of Anne looking out the window at a neighbor's wedding send-off. Highly recommended. Aud: I, J, H, P. (J. Williams-Wood)