The book captures the negative feelings of the characters up until the end when Anne is conflicted by the negativity she experiences all around her and the hopefulness she feels for a future - especially with Peter. This type of naivety is perfect for the written page because one never truly express all of the feelings one experiences regardless of how one tries. Here we see Anne not trying to convey anything to an audience and thus she expresses a mood and emotion that is completely spontaneous and unassuming. We can never have this with a film because the very act of filming removes any sense of realism from the scene. However, we can know that Anne was writing only for an audience of one and this lends more credibility to the novel because it is authentic in a way that a planned film could never be.

The ending of the film is different from the book in that the characters had time to "get ready" for the something (though they know not what) to occur. In the book, such as in life, things end abruptly. Anne does not have time to sit down and pen what is happening as it is happening and many may consider this to be a sad ending to the story but it is a realistic one. The diary ends with the teenager observing life, specifically her own, through the lens of a teenager without a serious consideration of what may wait for her in the future. Certainly, her family lived...

These facts make the book more compelling and more realistic because we know that the odds of Anne penning any pages in her diary as the SS army came through the doors was slim. From what we can discern from the book, the helpers were present at the time of the arrest and they, too were taken. The arrest was a complete and total disguise if we are to go y the book. No one was aware of what was about to happen. In fact, we might even think, along with Anne, that things were looking up since liberation seemed to be so close at hand. In this way, the film seems to drift away from the book in order to make a good movie rather than tell the story of a young girls diary.
The Diary of a Young Girl is a poignant story in written form and in film but they are different mediums that capture different emotions and realities. The book tells of a story that individuals today simply cannot relate to. In fact, many viewing the film or reading the book might think they are reading pure fiction without giving it much thought. The book and the film present a time in history that is well worth documenting and, along with it, they tell another story about how the life of a young girl can be affected by such change. A close inspection of the movie, however, will indicate that many aspects (horrors) of the book were simply overlooked for the sake of sentimentality. This is understandable and why the book should be read prior to watching any film versions of the same story. While both are worth the time it takes to read or watch, everything, including facts and the lack thereof, should be taken into consideration.

Works Cited

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. New York: Bantam Books. 1991.