2021 • Aiko Beemsterboer, Josephine Arendsen
Summary
My Best Friend Anne Frank tells the heartbreaking story of Hannah Goslar and Anne Frank’s childhood friendship in Amsterdam, which is shattered by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The film follows their lives from carefree school days through the horrors of the Holocaust — including Anne’s time in hiding and the girls’ brief, tragic reunion at Bergen-Belsen.
Dramatizations & Historical Liberties
1. The emotional fence scene at Bergen-Belsen
The famous meeting between Hannah and Anne across the fence at Bergen-Belsen is based on real events recalled by Hannah Goslar. However, the film significantly dramatizes the clarity of their conversation, the emotional intensity, and the visual staging of the scene to create a more powerful moment.
2. Major timeline compression of the Holocaust years
The years from the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 to liberation in 1945 are heavily condensed. Many restrictions, roundups, deportations, hiding attempts, and personal hardships faced by Jewish families are combined or shortened into a tighter narrative.
3. Romanticized pre-war friendship and school life
The carefree school days and innocent bond between Hannah and Anne are portrayed with more playful, lighthearted, and idyllic scenes — including laughter, games, and close companionship — than likely occurred in their real pre-war lives in Amsterdam.
4. Hannah’s awareness of Anne in hiding
The film suggests Hannah knew more about Anne’s hiding situation and the conditions in the Secret Annex during that period. In reality, Hannah did not know that Anne and her family were in hiding until much later. She only learned about it after the war when she heard about Anne’s diary.
5. Invented or amplified personal conversations
Several emotional dialogues between Hannah, Anne, and their families — especially the heartfelt conversations during their childhood and the fence meeting at Bergen-Belsen — are invented or significantly rewritten for dramatic effect.