The Zookeeper’s Wife

The year is 1939 and the place is Poland.  Antonina and Jan Zabiniski are the directors of the Warsaw Zoo.  The animals are well-cared for and loved and the Zabiniskis (Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh) are happy and content.  Unfortunately, their somewhat idyllic life is shattered by the invading German Army at the start of World War Two.  The zoo is bombed and the scenes of animals being bombed, strafed and shot for sport by Nazi soldiers are heart rending. The Germans, led in this case by an SS officer who is a big zoologist in Germany, take all the best animals for redistribution, leaving the zoo virtually empty. This brave couple put themselves, and their son, in danger daily by turning their zoo into a human sanctuary by hiding persecuted Jews from the Ghetto in the deserted animal pens and cages.  Jessica Chastain turns in a good performance as the shy, artsy wife who opens her home to over 300 refugees.  Daniel Bruhl is even better as the Berlin zoologist who, in addition to taking the best of the animals, has a misguided idea to recreate extinct Aurochs by selectively breeding various bulls and bison breeds.  How the Zabiniskis are able to hide people from the Nazi’s is a fascinating story told against the backdrop of the Warsaw Ghetto and its ultimate destruction.  The fact that this is all a true story (and very accurately rendered) makes this movie even more amazing.  I can’t quite give this movie a golden apple because it is a little slow moving in points, but it is definitely worth seeing.