The Zookeeper’s Wife – Based on a true story and subsequent book by Diane Ackerman, comes a film about the Warsaw zoo couple, Jan Zabinski (Johan Haldenbergh) and his wife, Antonina (Jessica Chastain). It’s Poland 1939, and World War is upon them. As the animals are taken down by soldiers, Antonina takes it upon herself to help save hundreds of people (and the remaining animals) during the German invasion…stashing them in her basement.
The opening half of the film plays out reminiscent of The Book Thief – except substituting dead animals for burned volumes. We long for the whimsical-calm temperament of The Book Theif amidst the zoo’s ruins, bombs, and the cruelty of war. There is nothing entertaining about this story visually, until at about the half way point, the plot takes a turn.
It is at this point, and as an audience, while we at first couldn’t trust the movie to ever be kind, we find ourselves becoming conditioned by war. Together with the Zabinski couple we believe that someday – with a little love and a lot of hope – life can resume.
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