Costume (Chastain is a clothes horse for the fashion of the period) and production design both set the stage convincingly for the incredible tale. This little-know story is given straightforward cinematic treatment by the filmmakers. Antonina and husband Jan, the zoo’s curator, hatch a plan to spirit as many Jews as possible from the ghetto, hide them and help them escape Nazi persecution. But, the now vacant basement cages would be a perfect hiding place. The fate of these inhabitants is well known. At the same time, the Jews of the city are forced into a ghetto that grew in population to hundreds of thousands. The zoo, in turn, is converted into a pig farm to feed the Nazi occupiers. The rest of the animals are slaughtered by the German soldiers. Then, the Germans, in the guise of zoologist Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), arrive to take the best of the zoo’s breeds and bring them to Berlin. Then, in September of 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland and the zoo, like all of Warsaw, is ruthlessly bombed repeatedly, killing many animals and causing other to escape into the ravaged city. She greets the visitors and overseas the care and feeding of her animal wards. She rides around the zoo on her bicycle accompanied by a baby camel named Adam. The day before the surprise invasion by the Nazis is just another for Antonina and the residents of the Warsaw Zoo. “Hidden Figures,” “Loving” and “Land of Mine” were three such stories and is joined by the adaptation of the non-fiction book by Diane Ackerman with director Niki Caro and writer Angela Workman. The past year has been rife with films that reveal some little- or un-known story of our history. A little muddled but ultimately interesting.Laura finds nothing particularly wrong with "The Zookeeper's Wife," enjoying its little known piece of WWII history, but she didn't find it particularly memorable either. Little wonder that Daniel Bruhl’s Nazi zoologist underestimates her so badly.ĭespite lacking some impact, The Zookeeper’s Wife has the occasional flash of brilliance that lifts it slightly above the average. Her performance is one that is seemingly timid, but demonstrative of the iron will beneath. Part of that appeal is Jessica Chastian (despite an idyllic character introduction that is one bird-borne flower garland away from having her crowned a Disney princess). Those previously mentioned moments of shock and strangeness, the emotional impact of seeing a Jewish child asking to be lifted onto a train for “resettlement”, the frequent close-up shots of the Nazis showing only their belt or boots (as if the wearers are dehumanised by the uniform) all add a certain flourish to the film that maintains your fascination with the tale. There is a sense that this works better on the printed page, allowing more time to steep in the characters and the atmosphere of war-time Poland, rather than that lurching sensation as the film catapults forward a year or two.
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Both are important tales to tell, and this is based on the true story of genuine heroes that saved hundreds of lives, but it seems primarily from an observer’s point of view. With an over-attention to costuming and set dressing that borders on romanticism, it feels somewhat sanitised, lessening the impact it could have had.Īt times this feeling is more prevalent than others, but there are long stretches in the second act, where the film begins to drag. The film is filled with such moments, and they go a long way to breaking up what could be a very standard example of this genre.Īs such The Zookeeper’s Wife walks a strange line a gentiles’ view of the Holocaust, a civilian’s view of the war. This could be a glimpse of the strange surreality of war, such as a wallaby fleeing through the bombed out streets of Warsaw, or a sharp pang of realisation, such as the ashen snow flakes of the burning Jewish ghetto. There is almost a mawkish sentimentality about this film, but The Zookeeper’s Wife manages to pull itself back from the edge in unexpected moments. After their zoo is bombed and the remaining animals either shot or plundered for the Berlin Zoo, Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) and her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) begin to hide Jewish women and children as they see them undergoing a process of increasing brutalisation by the German occupation.
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Based on a true story, via the popular 2007 book by Daine Ackerman, The Zookeeper’s Wife tells of a couple’s struggle to establish a Jewish underground railroad in Nazi-occupied Warsaw.