A Small Light (2023)

 

            “A Small Light” is a limited series that first appeared on National Geographic and is now playing on Netflix.  It is based on the book “Anne Frank Remembered”  The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family” which was published in 1987.  The title comes from a statement by Hermine “Mieps” Gies:  “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others.  Even an ordinary secretary, housewife, or teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.”  It has been nominated for Critics Choice awards for Best Limited Series, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie (Bel Powley), and Best Actor in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie (Liev Schrieber).

            The series opens in Amsterdam in July, 1942.  Miep Gies (Powley) gets Margot Frank through a German checkpoint even though Margot does not have her identification papers.  A flashback to 1933 shows her getting hired as Otto Frank’s secretary.  Mr. Frank’s company makes pectin and spices.  Otto (Live Schreiber) and Miep bond over being refugees.  Miep was adopted by a Dutch family.  She is feisty and fun-loving, but has to grow up when the German army marches into Amsterdam in May, 1940.  She doesn’t think twice when Mr. Frank asks her to help hide them.  He warns her it will be dangerous, but she is not deterred.  The family and some other Jews hide in the upstairs of Mr. Frank’s business.  Miep gets married to Jan (Joe Cole).  He gets recruited to the Dutch resistance, so he has his own risk-taking going on.  He helps with hiding Jews and making illegal ration cards so they can get food.  Miep and several other employees keep the business running and help with the hiding.  Miep befriends Anne and knows she is keeping a diary.  On August 4, 1944, the Gestapo arrives. 

            Everyone knows the Anne Frank story.  Her diary is one of the most famous books in history.  And it was made into “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 1959.  “A Small Light” gives a different perspective of the tragedy.  It focuses on Miep Gies, instead of Anne.  That would be inexcusable if Anne’s story had not already been told well.  And Miep’s story needed to be told.  Not to take away from the victims of the Holocaust, but there were brave Gentiles who risked their lives to help some of them.  Miep and Jan fall into that group.  The movie does an admirable job combining the story of the Frank family and the others with that of their Dutch friends.  It also adds in a resistance subplot focusing on Jan.

            The cast is outstanding, especially Bel Powley.  She starts as a party girl who is nagged by her adoptive parents to grow up and get a job.  Little does she know that meeting Otto Frank will change her life and bring our the heroine in her.  Her relationship with Otto is at the center of the movie.  She also interacts with Anne (Billie Boullet) more than with any of the others.  The series realistically portrays her as a teenage girl.  Which means she was something of a pain in the ass.  The rest of the hiders are peripheral to the story.  Some of the dysfunction is shown.  These were people thrown together in an cramped attic.  The series makes you wonder why it took so long to find them.  Their noise discipline was not good.  The series does not take a stand on who tipped off the Nazis and it does not follow them in captivity.  Only Otto returns to thank Miep for all she did.  And to receive the diary that she saved.

            How accurate is it?  Miep did get a job after an interview with Otto.  After working for him for years, the Frank family was forced to go into hiding when Margot got an order to report to a work camp.  Otto did ask Miep to help them and she agreed immediately.  The checkpoint scene did not occur, but Miep did bicycle with Margot to the hiding place.  It was during a rain storm so no one was suspicious of a Jew riding an illegal bike.  The sets used for the building and the secret annex were based on the actual locale.  Johan did build a bookcase to cover the door to the annex.  Jan was a member of the resistance and did things like providing illegal ration books and helping hide people.  He never talked about his resistance activities so the series filled in the gaps.  The couple did hide an anti-Nazi college student named Kuno van der Horst.  Miep’s friend Tess is fictional.  She represents the Dutch who cooperated with the Nazis.  The arrest was accurate.  The series does not assign blame, but Miep, in an interview, did not think the leading suspect (Willem van Maaren) was guilty.  Miep did find the diary and kept it for Anne.  She did not read it and she later said that was lucky because if she had she would have burned it because it had names of people who would have been arrested.  The movie shortchanges the actions of Bep Voskuiul, who was with Miep when they found the diary.  Much of what Miep did, Bep also did, but the series kept it simpler.  Miep did go to SS headquarters in an attempt to get them freed.  She did get questioned by an agent that turned out to be from her hometown of Vienna and because of that he let her go.  She did turn over the diary to Otto after the war. 

GRADE  =  B

There was a documentary made about Miep called “Anne Frank Remembered” (1995).