The zookeeper's wife review

[Westside Steve]

 

 

The zookeeper's wife

 

Focus

 

PG 13. 126 min

 

 

In today's politically charged and politically correct atmosphere the list of acceptable groups to cast as villains has shrunk. Drug dealers, white supremacists, the Russian mob, World War II era Nazis are still perfectly acceptable, and for good reason. World War II and the Nazi party in Germany are perfect examples of how humanity can sink to its lowest feral level.

 

And don't misunderstand I'm not being glib when I say that adding animal cruelty to this mix makes for a perfectly horrible antagonist.

 

THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE is based on the actual recollections of actual participants set in a novel by author Diane Ackerman.

 

It takes place during the occupation of Poland. Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) run one of Europe's most spectacular zoological parks, the Warsaw Zoo. The German siege of the city is particularly hard on the animals who seem to be doomed until a German officer Dr Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), who is also known as Hitler's zookeeper in a show of faux compassion offers to help Antonina by taking the more exotic breeds to Berlin. It's not as altruistic as it sounds when we find he plans Josef Mengele types of experiments with the exotic breeds.

 

At any rate Lutz always seems to be in the picture making advances toward Antonina and causing friction between her and her husband.

 

This, however, is only part of the story. The main thrust is that the doctor and his wife have conned the Germans into turning the soon to be abandoned zoo into a pig farm to produce pork for the German troops. In actuality the large home on the property is something of an Underground Railroad station for smuggling Jews out of Poland.

 

Unfortunately as noble as this cause is, as it is often the case with stories from reality there's not much excitement to hold the interest of an audience. There is certainly no shame in reality hut we are only talking about the execution of a motion picture here. We don't really need any more reasons to hate Nazis but we are reminded over and over as they rape little girls and kill people young and old and, of course, shoot the non exotic animals in the zoo for fun. And all of that is just a footnote when compared to the horror of the concentration camps I felt that too much of the film was dedicated to the atrocities and not nearly enough of the Jews who actually escaped. The movie is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time but not nearly as complex nor compelling as the gold standard of the genre SCHINDLER'S LIST.

 

I can't really recommend it for entertainment value but it is a history lesson for generations increasingly removed from that era.

 

Never forget.

 

 

C+ or A depending on your view.

 

 

WSS