I’ve marveled in previous posts about the number of unknown and unbelievable stories from our history. World War II is particularly full of heroic human accomplishments (see one example in a previous post Operation Mincemeat: Netflix’s Absurd, Extraordinary, and True WWII Drama). We all know the basics of Anne Frank’s life during wartime thanks to her inspiring and heartbreaking diary. The television limited series, A Small Light, explores the relatively unknown story of Miep Gies, the young woman who risked her life every day keeping the Frank family safe from the Nazis.
Bel Powley (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) stars as Miep in a sensational performance. When we first meet her in 1933, she’s a 20-something party girl in Amsterdam living with her parents and no job. Fast forward to 1942 and she’s shepherding her sister, Margo, through a Nazi checkpoint to get to their hideout. The series jumps back and forth as Miep transforms from vivacious to pragmatic to courageous as embodied through the doe-eyed gaze of Powley. She charms her way into a secretary job with Otto Frank (played by Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan). She meets Jan at a bar (Joe Cole, Peaky Blinders) who is on board with her mission to shelter the Franks, their dentist, and another family in the secret annex above their office. Jan begins using his Social Service government connections to help the Dutch resistance carry out counterattacks. Miep and Jan’s relationship starts out as convenience and grows into love bonded by the horror of their surroundings. Powley and Cole have a great rapport.
In addition to the primary objective of providing food and supplies to the annex, Miep (and her several helpers, employees of Otto’s firm) provided company, emotional support, and news of the world to the sheltered group. The relationship between Otto and Miep is a highlight of the series. Schreiber’s low rumbling voice has Otto speaking volumes. It’s a beautiful unspoken and paternal friendship. Anne (played by Billie Boullet) is a precocious 13-year-old who begins writing in her red-and-white checkered diary to chronicle life in the annex and her hopes for the future. Miep is part sister, part mother as Anne experiences boredom, frustration, and her first kiss.
The series balances the gripping close calls of being discovered with the warm, humanity of daily life in the annex. Their moments of togetherness and celebrations of small triumphs almost allow us to envision a different ending. Miep’s determination to keep the Franks and friends secure were extraordinary. They didn’t set foot outside the annex for over two years. It all came to an end on August 4, 1944, when Nazi police raided Otto’s business and discovered the entrance to the hiding place behind a bookcase. Anne and Margo were put on a train to Auschwitz and later transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they died probably of typhus in February or March 1945. Otto was the only one of the eight to survive the concentration camps. Miep made sure he got Anne’s diary. She lived to be 100 years old and said in her later years: “Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, in their own way, turn on a small light in a dark room.”
(If you missed A Small Light’s initial run on the National Geographic channel, you can stream it now on Hulu or Disney+. The series runs eight episodes at 52-53 minutes each.)
D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐