Seeing Red Over Rewriting of History in ‘Anastasia’

“Joe” is not an abridged form of “John.” Neither is “Anya” an abridged form of “Anastasia.” In the Russian language, it is “Nastya.” (“Anya” comes from “Anna.”) Calling a Russian princess by the wrong nickname is a negligible error but not, unfortunately, the only thing that is wrong with “Anastasia,” a new animation production by 20th Century Fox (“Nice, but No Revolutionary,” Calendar, Nov. 21).

I take the liberty of modestly proposing a new story idea to the screenwriters of “Anastasia.” Here comes the pitch.

Time of action: 1940. Place of action: Holland. A teenage girl lives there happily with her family. Everybody ice-skates and enjoys tulips.

Suddenly a mean sorcerer emerges from nowhere and starts ravaging the country. The only way of escaping him is playing hide-and-seek in closets and between the walls. One day the girl’s family mysteriously disappears God knows where and is never heard from again. The girl, though, is saved by a young peasant tulip-grower.

The main conditions for telling this entertaining story are: Never use the word “Nazi,” never show a swastika, never present somebody named Hitler, never mention a concentration camp. (The same way as in “Anastasia,” the words “revolution,” “Bolshevik” or “communism” are never used; red banners, red stars and hammer and sickles are practically never shown; somebody named Lenin is never presented; the murder of Anastasia’s family or millions of others is never mentioned. The blame for their mishaps is put solely on the mean sorcerer Rasputin, who in real life was a sleazy figure but was admired by the czar and czarina as their best friend and protector.)

Other than that, you can stay as close to history as your conscience allows. The Dutch girl’s name, of course, is left intact. It is Anya Frank.

The horrible history of Russia has already proved that communism and nazism are the same. Showing Bolshevik revolution as an incomprehensible and fantastic event caused by mystic forces is, to my mind, comparable to presenting Hitler as a character from Brothers Grimm tales.