Where is Anne Frank (2021) Review

Title: Where is Anne Frank
Year: 2021
Director: Ari Folman
Country: Belgium
Language: English

My first exposure to Anne Frank was watching the George Stevens directed film Diary of Anne Frank (1959) in my grade 5 social studies class. In my elementary school years we had months of time dedicated to studying every aspect of The Holocaust. It is quite unfortunate that nowadays there are people who know very little about that time period, proving that movies like Where is Anne Frank need to be made in order to reinvigorate public knowledge about such a dangerous time. 

The film follows the journey of Kitty (Ruby Stokes) , the imaginary friend to whom Anne Frank dedicated her diary. A fiery teenager, Kitty wakes up in the near future in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and embarks on a journey to find Anne, who she believes is still alive, in today's Europe.

The gorgeous animation of Where is Anne Frank feels like a series of paintings that have come to life. It has a unique look that won't be found in the majority of modern animation, especially because most newer animation is computer animated. Balancing past and present, Director Ari Folman does a tremendous job at telling a beautiful - yet painful- story that will appeal to the hearts of children and adults. 

Where is Anne Frank has a timely message about living by people's example, rather than using their image for monuments, coffee shops & other capitalist gains. The scenes involving refugees also point out that we shouldn't spend too much time thinking about "what would I have done in this scenario?". but rather "how can I help people right now?".

The opportunity to be kind, selfless individuals  who help others is something that we should think about & act upon on a daily basis. Anne wrote that humanity should be kind and compassionate to each other; hopefully audiences of this wonderful picture will take that to heart.