“Am I supposed to just tolerate all of the older men in my life who make me uncomfortable?” - Camryn Garrett
There has been a lot of rumbling around the Internets regarding the debatable appropriateness of the part in the story that has Hazel and Augustus swept up in kisses in the Anne Frank House. I’m not here to be the definitive voice on whether or not that was “okay,” but I will say this: The message comes through clear and strong as we watch Hazel struggle to make way through that building. In one particularly powerful shot she pauses, hunched over, struggling for breath, in front of a particular excerpt of Frank’s words: ‘I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free.’ It’s that shot to me—not her kiss with Gus—that is the crux of that scene. Maybe it’s even the crux of the film.