‘A Small Light’ focuses on those who helped Anne Frank

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The new National Geographic series “A Small Light” stars Bel Powley as Miep Gies, a real-life heroine who protected celebrated diarist Anne Frank and seven others in a secret annex in Amsterdam during World War II. In addition to an important historical story, the series is also an examination of how far strangers can go to help another person in trouble. Gies, who wasn’t Jewish, faced certain death if she was discovered. Viewers first meet Gies as an aimless party girl who is transformed into a resistance fighter, bluffs her way past Nazi checkpoints and gathers scarce food for the hidden. The series streams on Disney+ starting May 1 and on Hulu the following day.