The Holocaust is by nature such a horrific subject matter that it's hard to do it justice with a PG-13 or below rating, but it can be done with the right amount of artistic restraint as long as the overall story doesn't feel hobbled with limitations. However, it's also an indication that you need the right handling to do it justice. The Zookeeper's Wife is one of those slice-of-life stories about good people risking much to save lives during the Holocaust that come from obscurity to remind you that there are still fresh, invigorating stories from a topic that can feel tapped out after 70 years. Feeling impotent to the horrors around them, Antonina and Jan risk everything to hide Jews in their zoo and eventually smuggle them out to safe houses. Their animals are slaughtered or moved to the Berlin Zoo, under the care of Nazi party member and amateur geneticist Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl). Their lives are thrown into turmoil when Germany invades and occupies Poland. Yet despite having a few weaknesses, The Zookeeper's Wife is a remarkable tale of courage and sacrifice in one of the darkest periods of history.Īntonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) and her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) are the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo. Still, there are some storytelling issues with all the time jumps and the progression from the husband and wife hiding just a handful of people to them becoming part a full-blown operation. Also, the score is quite evocative, heightening the drama and tension. And the costumes and sets are especially well-done, giving an authentic look and feel for the time period.
Jessica Chastain gives an incredibly strong performance and is the heart of the film. Set in Warsaw on the eve of the German invasion a family that runs a zoo decides to stay and protect their zoo and its animals, and when they become aware of the oppression and abuse that the Jews are suffering at the hands of the German soldiers they become part of the underground sneaking Jews out of Warsaw and sheltering them in their zoo.
That was Jan and Antonina's formidable, yet perilous plan, who regardless of the consequences, refused to wither before the Nazi menace, took matters into their own hands and sheltered 300 Jews under the Germans' noses.Based on a true story, The Zookeeper's Wife is a compelling World War II drama about the effort to rescue Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. However, with the zoo liquidated for the war effort and many of its animals tragically perished, what was once an animals' zoo, will now serve as a sanctuary where Antonina, the humanist veterinarian, and Jan can hide the persecuted Polish Jews in plain sight until safe houses are found. Under those circumstances, the young couple of Jan and Antonina Zabinski continue their daily routine as owners and keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, but soon, as German Luftwaffe's Stukas hammer the Polish capital, their life's work together with the city, will turn to ashes. Synopsis War brews over Warsaw in 1939, and while life is still running its course, the Germans are slowly beginning to make their presence felt, with Hitler secretly preparing for the German invasion of Poland.