REVIEW: ‘A Small Light’ offers new take on Holocaust experience

In “A Small Light,” we meet those who helped Anne hide from the Nazis for the better part of two years. Holed up in an attic, the Frank family relied on the help of an employee, Miep Gies (Bel Powley), and her husband Jan (Joe Cole) to bring them essentials and keep their secret.

The limited series shows how the Gieses and others were powerful resisters to Nazi rule. It also gives us reason to wonder if we, too, would be so willing to help others.

Written by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, the series takes time to unfold,, but it also paints a picture we didn’t realize. Miep wasn’t this hardcore rebel, but a secretary who just wanted to do what was right. Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) wasn’t a quiet man, just one who knew how to put life on simmer. The two had a great working relationship and when he needed a favor, she was there for him.

Throughout the series, Nazis threaten to discover the world that’s stirring in the attic, lending a tension that we didn’t know still existed in the well-told story.

Director Susanna Fogel captures those heart-pounding moments with great ease. But she also lets Miep and Jan experience a different life – one that involves social outings, mundane work situations and that huge disconnect Europeans experienced. A close friend is more concerned about her wedding than the storm clouds gathering. Miep plays along, but knows the world is not as fair as she would like.

Powley is excellent at showing the learning curve Miep experienced. Like her peers, she didn’t think the war was something she had to worry about. Then she saw the toll it was taking and knew she couldn’t be a bystander. Jan had his involvements, too. Both longed for a life that wasn’t overshadowed by the world’s affairs.

When there are moments of fun (friends jump in a canal), the cloud lifts momentarily and suggests a different world. When Miep tries to help Margot Frank (Ashley Brooke) through a checkpoint, the cloud returns and this is very much a thriller.

The eight episodes in the National Geographic series don’t lag; they also don’t rely on information we’ve already heard. Schreiber is forceful as the patriarch, but also aware of the world he’s in. That he chose the flighty Miep to be his go-between is just one of the surprises.

When Miep and Jan take refuge in the bathroom (where they can talk without fear of someone finding out), we realize just how intense the situation was.

Anne (Billie Boullet) is often a footnote in this story; the focus, instead, is on those who didn’t buckle under pressure but offered a small light to those who were targeted.

Powley, Cole and Schreiber are remarkable as the beacons who gave Anne comfort and, later, showed how much the world lost when she wasn’t in it.

“A Small Light” towers as a series. It also reminds us we can accomplish so much if we just take a step to stop those who bully others. The lesson is just as important now as it was more than 80 years ago.

 “A Small Light” airs on National Geographic.