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National Geographic will bring the story of Nazi-wartime hero Miep Gies to life with their new biographical drama titled A Small Light, which is set to premiere on the channel on May 1, 2023, at 9/8c and will be available on DisneyPlus and Hulu the following day.
The eight-part series will follow the brave story of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank's family from the Nazis for more than two years during World War II.
The docuseries stars Bel Powley as Miep Gies, Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank, Joe Cole as Jan Gies, Ashley Brooke as Margot Frank, and Billie Boullet as Anne Frank.
A Small Light: NatGeo's docuseries to tell the Anne Frank story from protector's perspective
The trailer for A Small Light highlights that the creators intend to bring a fresh perspective to the well-known narrative of Anne Frank, a Nazi war victim whose diary played an important role in documenting Nazi crimes.
In a first, the plot revolves around the life of Miep Gies, Anne's father's Dutch secretary who also played a crucial role in preserving Anne's diary, which became a vital resource in studying the lives of Jews during World War II..
The trailer for the NatGeo documentary-series opens with a tense conversation between Miep Gies and Margot Frank displaying the haunting backdrop of the Nazi crackdown on Jews in Europe. It then slowly proceeds to the scene where Otto Frank, who is Miep's boss, requests her to take his family into hiding at her house. What follows from here is a passionate tale of courage and hysteria, as Miep finds herself in the midst of chaos, trying to protect a vulnerable family along with her husband Jan.
As per the official description on National Geographic,
"This series tells the story of 25-year old Miep Gies, a strong-willed, unconventional young woman from a working class background who hid the Frank family, along with ten other Jews during World War II, all the while attempting to live her life as a young newlywed trying to make ends meet with a day job."
What is more interesting is the fact that the series' title is also inspired by one of Miep's latter statements in her life where she says,
"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 or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room."
A Small Light to introduce Billie Boullet as Anne Frank
British actress Billie Boullet, last seen in BBC's The Worst Witch, will be seen playing the titular role of Anne Frank.
Speaking about her portrayal of Anne in an interview with The Screen Rants, Billie said,
"I wanted to get Anne right. There's been so many portrayals of her [where] it's their versions of Anne. I really wanted it to be truthful to her diary, and her fieriness, and her strong will, and her opinions."
She continued,
"She was a real teenage girl; she had bite to her. She had a character to her. She had depth. I really wanted to bring forward the 3D version of her instead of the 2D version, which I thought she was before researching her."
A Small Light starring Bel Powley in the lead, premieres on Monday, May 1, 2023.
