Director: Sabina Fadeli
Featuring: Martina Gatti, Helen Mirren
Rating: 12A
Running time: 95 mins
Release date: 27/01/2020
As we progress into the 21st Century, modern conflicts and technological advances – coupled with the ongoing concerns over climate change and evolution and political unrest that is inherent in today’s seemingly modern world – can make us yearn for a far simpler and perhaps more democratic time.
Both celebrating and commemorating what would have been her 90th birthday, a brand-new documentary, ANNE FRANK: PARALLEL STORIES, featuring Dame Helen Mirren, attempts to piece together not only the memories and reminiscences of one of the 20th Century’s most enduring war-time icons.
It also invites us to share in the emotional challenges of five other individuals who managed to survive the horrors of the Holocaust in places like Auschwitz, which in recent times has been portrayed in films like Steven Spielberg’s SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993).
ANNE FRANK: PARALLEL STORIES utilises Mirren and the journey of a young woman, known simply in the film by as #KaterinaKat as she attempts to ask questions as she goes and as in the most clear and honest traditions of World War II documentaries, the film does give us an insight into a far broader canvas about how circumstances and people were interlinked during some very traumatic and vivid experiences.
Taking place in part via a replica set of Frank’s original room in Amsterdam, Mirren’s assured readings of extracts from THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK are used sparingly and confidently, reminding us of how effective a truly talented icon of stage and screen can be when taking centre stage, but it is the testimonies of the five female survivors, who make a return to the scene of their most involving experiences, that stay in the mind.
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No amount of contemporary research and artistic recreation, as well as social media insight, can replace or replenish the real experiences of these women, who represent the legacy of millions who perished at the hands of Nazism nearly a century ago, but this is a film that uses the spirit of social media to start a dialogue that should remain constant.
Although the film belongs in the minds of an older audience and generation, it is a film far too important not to be ignored by younger viewers of at least twelve years and upwards. Documentaries like SHOAH and films like DOWNFALL are also good points of reference for the film and it is the perfect introduction to the period for students, who do need reminders of the lives they are lucky to be living in a truly democratic society.
There are complexities in all conflicts and the work of the foundations behind the film who have tirelessly continued to campaign for the memories of the Holocaust to be preserved, will certainly welcome more exposure. One hopes that the film will continue to find a broader audience beyond a limited cinema release. Indeed, it looks like the initiative is to bring the film to schools and colleges across the world.
Unmissable.
ANNE FRANK: PARALLEL STORIES can be seen in a series of special screenings to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th, 2020 across the UK.
