124 minutes. A cryptonym from the council to aid the Jews. The real-life animals used in the film offer a unique viewpoint of the war, and aid the film to be a visual delight. Skillful direction by Niki Caro, excellent sets and costumes, a slightly washed-out look to the cinematography which nonetheless has a full range of color, and a capable cast. by Nancy Bingell. The owners soon start to hide Jewish residents within the zoo in an attempt to save their lives from the Nazi holocaust. Frustratingly, this is another typical holocaust film and one that will not standout against the packed crowd. Not worth the time or the money. any range of emotions. Great storyline but not the best outcome. A wasted opportunity by soap opera-like direction on a feature film, Told with grace, empathy and conviction, this celebration of ordinary heroism is elevated by strong performances by Jessica Chastain and her Belgian co-lead Johan Heldenbergh. The Zookeeper's Wife suggested Tofi : Antonina's lynx kittens. The style of the film looks good with the sets and animals especially coming across well, but this films pacing is really poor and just feels boring. Heck's colleague. The atmosphere of the film is misplaced and has an overall tone that doesn't belong. The professor at Pucek of the Bialowieza Nature Preserve. The star plays the title role as a beleaguered saint, with the slight dullness that implies. A competent but paint by numbers example of the Righteous Gentile Holocaust Movie. In particular, Jessica Chastain's acting is nothing short of superb and is supported by great performances by Daniel Brühl and Shira Haas. The tough Ghetto child who survived the war. The Warsaw Zoo, their home, is an Edenic, innocent place of wonder and beauty where a loving husband and wife tenderly care for their furry charges and invite others to take joy in the majestic creatures too. this seems very unrealistic to me. Magdalena's friend. Awards Directed by Niki Caro. It would've been different, less generic and perhaps more emotive. Wow - missed opportunity. I can't understand why she has to look beautiful throughout the entire film, and her very bright red lipstick is never out of place. And there you have the problem with “The Zookeeper’s Wife”: Dialogue and plotting that keep this inspirational, mostly true story earthbound by hitting every note with a hammer. But there are so many problems, there are aspects of the film that aren't expanded on enough and aspects that are focused on too much. There has not been any Nazi's since the 40's, we have much more serious current issues at play right now but Nazi's are still the most terrifying threat to humanity. “Like a Valkyrie at rest” is how writer Diane Ackerman described Antonina Zabinski, the subject of her 2007 book, “The Zookeeper’s Wife.” By which measure the gauzy Amazonian presence of Jessica Chastain in the new movie version has to count as typecasting. True story -- one of heroes we didn't know even existed. Aka: Weronika. It's subliminal, and that might be due to the over saturation of this genre. The underlying story is an inspiring one. The story is based on the actions of the owners of the Warsaw Zoo, who saved the lives of more than three hundred Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Some of the most suspenseful sequences involve Jan’s subterfuges in getting Jews out of the Ghetto to a network of Polish Samaritans and resistance fighters. Historian who wrote book while hiding in a Warsaw Bunker. Based upon real life events that took place in Warsaw, Poland during World War II, this film fails to reach it's intended impact on the audience. Antonina's father. Aka: Basia. Janina's colleague and friend. Chapter 15. - cast member in movies in the past. 2: Adolf: The Kidnapper: The ringleader of the rhesus monkeys. I was disappointed with this movie. Oh well - Hollyweird politics. A pediatrician. At Boston Common, Fenway, West Newton, suburbs. Metacritic Reviews. The supporting cast is a mixed bag, I liked the actor who plays her husband I thought he gave the best performance in the film but even he starts to overact towards the end of the film. Early on, after the Nazis have chased off or shot all the exotic beasts, the couple turns their zoo into a pig farm; they feed the animals with garbage brought from the ghetto in trucks that hide fleeing refugees. Tufa : Antonina's lynx kittens. i'm not sure. Early on, after the Nazis have chased off or shot all the exotic beasts, the couple turns their zoo into a pig farm; they feed the animals with garbage brought from the ghetto in trucks that hide fleeing refugees. Meanwhile, not content to destroy only the zoo's animals, the Nazis also cut down many of the plants and trees and replace them with German ones. Nobody else in the film gets any important screen time so when the film asks you to care you just don't which hurts the film. The script has some decent drama with some particularly uncomfortable scenes that work well. If you like seeing animals being executed for 30 minutes you are a sick individual. Intensely poignant and heartbreaking at times. The idyllic life of the zookeepers ends abruptly with a Nazi air raid over Warsaw, which hits the zoo and kills the majority of its animals. not here. But there are worthy things here as well. There was no point making this film. Another saturated topic, we typically get two or three WWII films a year. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name, 'The Zookeeper's Wife' recounts the true story of the husband-and-wife couple, Jan and Antonina Żabiński, who secretly sheltered Jews during the German invasion of Poland from 1939 to 1945 on their premises of the Warsaw Zoo, thus enabling these Polish Jews to escape from the infamous Warsaw Ghetto and the eventual extermination of the place as well as its inhabitants within. It's never a good sign for a movie when there's more emotional response being wrung out of animal deaths than human causalities and for Whale Rider director Niki Caro's adaptation of Diane Ackerman's bestselling book, it's even worse considering the subject material here is dealing with a heartbreaking World War 2 tale of unimaginable loss and torment during the Nazi occupied time in Poland of the 1940's. In saying that though, this is an excellent "story" film to which I was fully immersed. She evokes powerful imagery that isn't portrayed in the film, we see a young girl being taken into a tunnel by two Nazi soldiers. It’s all well-intentioned and plushly mounted and fundamentally decent, and the history lesson may send moviegoers back to Ackerman’s book. Protagonist. Soul draining is how I would describe this. Jan Zabinski was a zookeeper and member of the Polish resistance A film with promising actors and based upon an incredible true story, however didn't fill up to its high expectations, sadly. Founder of the Institute of Anthropology. it's sentimental, I'll give it that. We don't see what happens, but the detail in every scene enables us to imagine the terror that unfolded. And I am an ardent animal lover. Unfortunately, every scene where a Nazi materialized did not convey any real sense of danger. The elephant at Warsaw Zoo. Daniel bruhl is in this film and he does a decent job especially at the beginning of the film but as the film progresses his character becomes as cliché as you can get. And again here with "The Zookeeper's Wife", yet another film standing stoically for virtue, forgets to actually be virtuous. The real-life animals used in the film offer a unique viewpoint of the war, and aid the film to be a visual delight. King Jan: Sobieski III: The King who loves to keep exotic animals. a movie dealing with the German invasion of Poland in 1939 should invoke alarm, sympathy, rage. When she cries, my God I feel it. In playing up these scenes, “The Zookeeper’s Wife” neglects the zookeeper himself. Should say Academy Award winner, Golden Globe award winner, People's Choice award winner. The premise of the film is based on a true story that sees a couple hide Jewish refugees in there zoo from the nazis. When Jan (played by the sturdy Belgian actor Johan Heldenbergh) lays out his plan to his wife, Antonina responds brightly, “A human zoo .