My Best Friend Anne Frank Discussion Questions and review written by the Ent on February 1st, 2022. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch
Movie: My Best Friend Anne Frank
Rating: TV-14
Genre: Drama, Historical
Length: 1 hr. 43 mins.
Age suggested: 13 and up
Release Date: February 1st, 2022
Streaming Service: Netflix
Warnings: This movie follows two Jewish girls during WW2. There is a lot of violence and death. There is some sexual discussion and threats.
Quick My Best Friend Anne Frank Summary
Most people are aware of the story of Anne Frank, but Hanneli Goslar rarely gets as much discussion. Based on the book Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend, My Best Friend Anne Frank follows the friendship between Anne and Hanneli. This starts as your usual young friendship, but when hard times rock their world, they must learn how to encourage each other through the most difficult times of their lives. This story takes place during the 1940s and is placed in Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
A Note about Languages: This is Dutch movie and was originally filmed as such. Hanneli and Anne’s lines have been mostly dubbed over in English. Many of the other characters are speaking their native language or German and subtitles are shown for translation. In a few intense scenes, there are no translations given, but the context clues and the on-screen occurrences can easily guide older viewers through the story.
My Best Friend Anne Frank Review: (May Contain Spoilers)
-Is My Best Friend Anne Frank Appropriate?-
This movie takes place during World War 2. The violence at the beginning is relatively light. Someone gets kicked in the face in the opening scene, but it gets much darker as the film goes on and we see the inner workings of the internment camp. There is minimal violence directed towards the children of the movie, but the lingering threat lasts throughout the movie.
There is also some sexual discussion and threats in this movie. In one scene, Anne is trying to teach Hanneli about sex using a medical book. There are images of a vagina and a penis. This is pretty quick as Hanneli gets frustrated and storms out. While in the internment camp, a woman is consistently referred to as the ‘pretty lady’ by one of the guards in a threatening manner. She later uses his infatuation as a distraction, but nothing terrible comes from this scene.
–Why Watch My Best Friend Anne Frank-
The importance of humanizing the Jewish people during their struggles in the not-too-distant past is unbelievably important. Due to her iconic level of popularity, it can be a bit hard to do this with Anne Frank. That’s why I think this movie adds a level of depth to this familiar story that many people may not be aware of. Hanneli’s story is one of hope, but is mired in this world of death and despair. She loses almost everything, but still manages to escape and eventually follows her dreams.
-Plot/Characters-
As previously mentioned, the main characters of this film are Hanneli and Anne. We follow their relatively innocent friendship as it blossoms into desperate, tangled webs of grief. They are both living in the Netherlands during World War 2 as Nazis have occupied the territory. Hanneli and Anne are both Jewish and so there is this constant tension of threat even during more playful scenes. They are eventually separated as Anne and her family flee to Switzerland. Both Anne and Hanneli end up in different internment camps, although Anne’s camp is notoriously more cruel.
Both Anne and Hanneli’s parents play important roles throughout the story. Hanneli’s mother passes during childbirth. This leaves Hanneli with just her dad and her little sister, Gabi. Eventually, the whole family ends up in an internment camp and her dad passes from an illness in the internment camp. Despite these tragedies, Hanneli still manages to protect her little sister and eventually escape the camp.
At the climax of the film, Hanneli hears Anne behind a fence and is able to throw over some bread. Hanneli then tears a hole in the hay-filled barbed wire fence for one last conversation with her best friend. The most poignant moment is when Hanneli is able to make Anne smile, despite being at the absolute lowest point in her life.
My Best Friend Anne Frank Discussion Questions
Themes to Discuss: Friendship, Holocaust, Coming of Age, Positivity through difficulties
- What was your favorite moment between Anne and Hanneli?
- Were you aware of Hanneli’s story before watching this movie?
- Do you have a friendship with anyone like these two girls?
- How did Anne and Hanneliencourage each other prior to being separated?
- What was the importance of the last interaction between Anne and Hanneli?
- Hanneli is still alive to this day (as of 2/1/22), if you could ask her one question, what would it be?
Thanks for reading our My Best Friend Anne Frank Discussion Questions and Review. Before you go, check out these other posts:
-Family friendly Netflix Suggestions
–Radioactive Review and Curriculum
–World War 2 Books to Read with your Teen
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