In this essay, I will aim to discuss and analyse my chosen documentary ‘The Short Life of Anne Frank’ by Gerrit Netten, with cinema dramatization of real events ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by Mark Herman. I will be focusing on how each director uses techniques to show true aspects of real life, and how this persuades the audience into believing that they are witnessing something accurate, and true to the directors intention.
Gerrit Netten’s 2001 documentary ‘The Short Life of Anne Frank’ and Mark Herman’s 2008 historical drama based film ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, are both based on the innocence perceived through the vision of two children’s eyes and thoughts, surrounding the abhorred events that took place in German-occupied-Europe between 1941 and 1945. Though both motions follow the destructive situation that happened during those years of devastation, it is also apparent that both films are impressive yet contrasting pieces of work that show the personal cost of tragedy through innocence, and also through the director’s control of sound and image.
‘The Short life of Anne Frank’ is a twenty-eight-minute long look motion, which introduces the audience with a concise observation about the young German-Jewish girl’s life, and her own personal development through growing up, ambitions and desires, orderly documented in her diary; the dearest thing she held closest to her. We see in Netten’s documentary a brief overview of her productivity within German life with her family as she grew up, followed shortly by a very abrupt preface about the Anti-Semitic political party gaining power. The emphatic male commentary by Jeremy Irons alongside of this is profoundly informative yet powerful throughout the entire documenta...
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Kristin Thompson, 2010. Film History: An Introduction. Kristin Thompson, David Bordwell. 3rd Revised edition Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. PG.34
The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, 2008. [DVD] Mark Herman, UK/USA: Miramax Films [United States].
The Boy in The Striped Pajamas: Behind The Scenes, 2008. [DVD] Mark Herman, UK/USA: Miramax Films [United States].
FastcoCreate/Jonathan Gottschall . 2012. Why Storytelling Is The Ultimate Weapon. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680581/why-storytelling-is-the-ultimate-weapon. [Accessed 08 January 14].
John Corner, 1996. The Art of Record: A Critical Introduction to Documentary. Edi-tion. Manchester University Press. PG.24
Aish/Rabbi Benjamin Blech. 2008. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.aish.com/j/as/48965671.html. [Accessed 08 January 14].
In the movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the scenes are cut a lot shorter than in the book. For
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Dir. John C. Mitchell. Perf. John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor and Stephen Trask. 2001. DVD.
The book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne is about a young boy, Bruno, whose father is a soldier in the German army during WWII. Bruno lives with his parents and his older sister, Gretel. They live in a five story house in Berlin. He goes to school and has three best friends that he goes on adventures with. One day he comes home to find their maid packing his things. They move to a three story house in Germany because his dad was promoted and needs to be closer to his work.
Reichardt, Kelly (Director), Raymond, John and Reichardt, Kelly (Writers), Williams, Michelle and Robinson, John (Performances). 2008. Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009. DVD
While comparing both texts: Auschwitz – The Blueprint of Genocide and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, we find that both texts succeeded to win the audience’s sympathy for the millions of Jews that were mercilessly killed. Both texts use various conventions to achieve this and also to position the audience. Although the feature film was more so successful than the documentary as film presented the topic in a more entertaining manner unlike the documentary where it was all the facts and details of the Holocaust and more or less boring.
Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 film Inglourious Bastards entails a Jewish revenge fantasy that is told through a counterfactual history of events in World War II. However, this story follows a completely different plot than what we are currently familiar with. Within these circumstances, audiences now question the very ideas and arguments that are often associated with World War II. We believe that Inglourious Basterds is a Jewish revenge fantasy that forces us to rethink our previous understandings by disrupting the viewers sense of content and nature in the history of World War II. Within this thesis, this paper will cover the Jewish lens vs. American lens, counter-plots within the film, ignored social undercurrents, and the idea that nobody wins in war.
Mittel, J., 2007. Film and Television Narrative. In: D. Herman, ed. 2007. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.156-171.
Like many of the films watched in class there seems to be an ongoing theme in Mike Leigh’s films of the tragedy that is the life of those living in Britain. Fortunately, Leigh chooses to instead use these tragedies to instead promote the optimism or “high hopes” if you will of the people stuck in such unfortunate circumstances that are displayed onscreen. His films seek to bring light where there is darkness and truth where there are lies.
Rey, H. A. "Curious George - The Original Story (1941)." YouTube. YouTube, 23 May 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" explores the beauty of a child's innocence in a time of war:
Chance and choice are completely different paths that can be taken to make decisions. The former is based on loss of control and refractory fate. The latter, however, allows there to be a perfect balance between hope, fate, and effective action-taking. While chance and choice are opposites, chance can open opportunities to make choices, and choices can create chances that allow things to happen that would not otherwise occur. “Night”, “The Book Thief” and “The Diary of Anne Frank” are all examples of novels where characters during the Holocaust took life changing decisions, defined by their chances and
The Lion King. Dir. Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. By Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda
2. Nichols, Bill. ‘Documentary Modes of Representation (The Observational Mode).’ Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington & Indianapolis; Indiana University Press. 1991. 38-44
On June 12, 1929, at 7:30 AM, a baby girl was born in Frankfort, Germany. No one realized that this infant, who was Jewish, was destined to become one of the worlds most famous victims of World War II. Her name was Anne Frank. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank and B.M. Mooyaart, was actually the real diary of Anne Frank. Anne was a girl who lived with her family during the time while the Nazis took power over Germany. Because they were Jewish, Otto, Edith, Margot, and Anne Frank immigrated to Holland in 1933. Hitler invaded Holland on May 10, 1940, a month before Anne?s eleventh birthday. In July 1942, Anne's family went into hiding in the Prinsengracht building. Anne and her family called it the 'Secret Annex'. Life there was not easy at all. They had to wake up at 6:45 every morning. Nobody could go outside, nor turn on lights at night. Anne mostly spent her time reading books, writing stories, and of course, making daily entries in her diary. She only kept her diary while hiding from the Nazis. This diary told the story of the excitement and horror in this young girl's life during the Holocaust. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl reveals the life of a young innocent girl who is forced into hiding from the Nazis because of her religion, Judaism. This book is very informing and enlightening. It introduces a time period of discrimination, unfair judgment, and power-crazed individuals, and with this, it shows the effect on the defenseless.