X
- 2017
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 2 h 7 m
- 2017
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 2 h 7 m
Summary In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Nazis, Jan and Antonina are stunned – and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Daniel B...
Directed By: Niki Caro
Written By: Angela Workman, Diane Ackerman
- 2017
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 2 h 7 m
- 2017
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 2 h 7 m
The Zookeeper's Wife
57
7.0
Where to Watch
Summary In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Nazis, Jan and Antonina are stunned – and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Daniel B...
Directed By: Niki Caro
Written By: Angela Workman, Diane Ackerman
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
57
47% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
53% Mixed
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
57
47% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
53% Mixed
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Zookeeper’s Wife achieves its grandeur, not through the depiction of grand movements, but through its attentiveness to the shifts and flickers of the soul.
It’s a remarkable story, told in a movie that doesn’t always quite live up to it; except for a few crucial scenes, The Zookeeper’s Wife feels a bit too soft-focus for the devastating story it tells.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 86 User Ratings
7.0
65% Positive
56 Ratings
56 Ratings
30% Mixed
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
5% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 86 User Ratings
7.0
65% Positive
56 Ratings
56 Ratings
30% Mixed
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
5% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
"The Zookeeper's Wife" tells a compelling story of compassion, bravery, determination to survive, and triumph of the human spirit manifested during one of the darkest periods in human history. The acting is compelling, and the movie depicts effectively the moral depravity and brutality of the ****. The critics, who were so enamored of the incoherent and mind numbing "La La Land," apparently did not find this movie sufficiently gritty and dramatic. "The Zookeeper's Wife" was more than sufficiently evocative of the horrors of that period to hold my interest from its beginning to its end. One of the finest movies I have seen recently.
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This is a well done movie void of many of the, Hollywood added drama scenes which tend to give many true movies an unrealistic look into what actually occured in real life. Which is why I give this movie a solid 9 rating.
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Decency, in its raw, instinctive form, is ultimately what earns The Zookeeper’s Wife a place in the self-conflicted canon of Holocaust cinema.
A compelling story bolstered by engaging performances from Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, let down by occasional awkward tonal shifts and clumsy plotting.
But deeply earnest pictures aren't always great ones, and this movie's plot mechanics sometimes grind it down. The actors, at least, keep it breathing.
It’s a story that promises major suspense, which only materializes occasionally.
The Żabińskis were as unfailingly heroic as it gets, but memorably rendering a resistance shouldn’t be so resistant itself to the rough-and-tumble humanity of the details, and the unsentimental doom that shrouded it all.
Jessica Chastain's excellent performance is just one of the many delights on offer in this moving drama. At first glance one is unprepared for the pedigree of the film. The production values are outstanding and the story is not just another holocaust telling. The animals, which I imagine are a mixture of real and CGI, go through so much that It might be necessary for the producers to provide proof that indeed no animal was, in fact, harmed. A lovely and rewarding old fashioned entertainment.
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An inspiring tale of a courageous couple defying the odds to save persecuted Polish Jews during the height of World War II, a film reminiscent of "Schindler's List" but in a uniquely different setting. However, despite an excellent lead performance by Jessica Chastain and the picture's heroic narrative, this offering feels a bit "sanitized" in light of its subject matter. While this is somewhat understandable to appeal to a wider, more commercial audience, it also rings a bit hollow, with much of the action looking as though it's taking place on a movie set and not in real-world conditions. Although by no means a bad film, a bit **** edge would have made this offering feel more authentic and given it the credibility it needs to be taken more seriously.
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The Zookeeper's Wife avrebbe potuto essere un nuovo, interessante approccio al dramma della Shoa, narrata stavolta dall'ottica di una coppia polacca che riuscì a salvare 300 ebrei nascondendoli in uno zoo da essa gestito nella cittá di Varsavia. Purtroppo, quello che mi sembra mancare nel film diretto da Niki Caro è un certo grado di intensitá nel descrivere i **** e le dinamiche che li legano: mi sarebbe piaciuto che la passione, l'attrazione, la repulsione, l'amore, la paura, lo sdegno fossero realmente trasmessi, e non solo indicati. Jessica Chastain è una presenza elegantissima sullo schermo, eppure non riesce a restituire fino in fondo l'animo della signora Żabiński: la sappiamo divisa tra l'amore per il marito e le attenzioni dell'ufficiale **** che la corteggia (almeno questa è la teoria del film), ma non lo sentiamo davvero. Curiosamente, sono le scene dell'olocausto degli animali a colpire e a rimanere impresse con più forza: l'aquila che cade abbattuta dalle pistole **** trasmette tutto l'orrore di una morte assurda e atroce, specchio del simile destino abbattutosi sugli esseri umani vittime delle SS. Così come colpiscono le scene in cui la Chastain interagisce con dei cuccioli: quando salva dal soffocamento un piccolo di elefante appena nato, dal quale si precipita lasciando le ipocrisie di una festa borghese e catapultandosi in questo modo nel suo elemento più vero, o quando nutre un baby bisonte porgendogli del cibo con le proprie labbra. Eppure, anche in tutta questa dolcezza c'è una nota stonata: la donna accarezza gli animali più di quanto non accarezzi i bambini che ha salvato, nonostante abbia rischiato la vita per nasconderli; e anche quando scopre che il figlio non è stato ucciso dall'ufficiale tedesco, il suo sollievo appena accennato non è minimamente all'altezza del sentimento reale che una madre proverebbe. Forse questo immane sforzo a trattenersi è stato richiesto dalla regista e non è quindi colpa dell'attrice; ma non ne vediamo davvero la ragione e, invece che dare forza al film, lo indebolisce. Come non rende un buon servizio alla pellicola l'affettatissimo accento polacco richiesto alla Chastain, che si risolve in un estenuante esercizio di stile che distrae ed annoia, invece che coinvolgere: è giusto il caso di ricordare che le persone, quando parlano la propria lingua madre, non parlano con un accento straniero. L'inglese con un accento esotico dovrebbe essere usato soltanto per sottolineare la non appartenenza di una persona ad un certo luogo; avrebbe senso l'accento polacco se a parlare fosse un americano che si trovasse in Polonia, mentre la Zabinski e il marito erano polacchi nella loro patria. A volte, per essere troppo fedeli ad una storia e raccontarla con il maggior numero possibile di dettagli, si rischia di perdere la visione d'insieme e di fallire il senso ultimo del linguaggio, che è la comunicazione, la quale beneficerebbe più della semplicitá che non delle spericolatezze della recitazione sovrastrutturata.
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The latest film to depict the heroics and horrors that occurred in the Holocaust, The Zookeeper's Wife is ultimately a mixed bag, but is nonetheless able to capitalize on the inherent power of its story through strong performances and honest emotion. Telling the story of the efforts of the zookeepers at the Warsaw Zoo to hide Jews during the Holocaust, The Zookeeper's Wife is a film that is as tragic as it is inspirational, depicting the actions that led to the couple saving over 300 people. As a moving tale of human sacrifice and survival amidst the horrors of the Holocaust, The Zookeeper's Wife works. However, too often, the film discards important stories or characters in favor of focusing on subplots that carry no weight compared to the horrors they are set against. As a result, it is a film with noble intentions that has a mixed ability to actually accomplish everything it wishes it could.
Through its two-hour story of heroism in the face of great oppression, the film shows many Jewish survivors come through the home of Antonina (Jessica Chastian) and Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh). Through their time rescuing Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, they rescue friends and strangers alike. Many times, the people they rescued would stay indefinitely. Other times, they would be there for just one night before being sent to a new location by the resistance. In the course of rescuing Jews and showing the great lengths gone to by the community and the Zabinski's to save these innocent people, the film never actually develops many characters. The closest is Urszula (Shira Haas), a young Jewish girl violently **** by two **** soldiers, who becomes like a daughter to Antonina. Her tale is tragic and drives home the barbaric actions of the ****, but she is the only one who actually gets developed, beyond a pair of people the Zabinski's were friends with prior to the occupation. Even then, the friends take a backseat to this one girl. Of the other 300 people hidden in the zoo, we see nothing but their faces, never hear their voices, and they become background characters. Without any depth truly provided to those that they rescue, The Zookeeper's Wife rides on the natural emotion of seeing somebody rescued from the Holocaust. This is easy to do, but shows no ambition on the part of the film. It merely sits back and lets the real events do the talking, without providing a voice to those senselessly slaughtered because of hatred.
The film's lack of character development is also matched by a rushed feeling that makes the film feel like a two-hour film that crammed way too much into its runtime. This is exemplified when Antonina is shown as not pregnant in one scene, very pregnant in the next, experiencing labor pains, and then giving birth, all in the span of two minutes. Her pregnancy is not mentioned, beyond her having sex with her husband and then, once she gives birth, the baby is included in two scenes. It is clear that Niki Caro recognized that the birth was not really that pertinent, but since it happened, she had to find a way to work it into the film. However, in the way it is included, it hardly works and only serves to exemplify the way in which the film rushed through too much. Further examples include the process of the Zabinski's procuring Jews from the ghetto or simply the passage of time. As a film that tries to cram seven years into its runtime, The Zookeeper's Wife always feels abbreviated with Caro trying to cover everything she can in telling this story, rather than allowing any particular moment to really breathe.
Much of this cramming and over-reaching is caused by the film's extensive focus on Antonina and her relationship with **** zoologist Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl). A cruel man who brags about killing animals in his zoo, obsessed with guns, Lutz winds up working for ****. Installing a breeding program in Antonina's zoo in an attempt to bring back the extinct aurochs, Lutz begins to come onto Antonina and repeatedly tries to touch her before attempting to **** her later in the film. He is a contemptible person, but feels extra to the plot. This is not a film that needed a villain. It was already one about the Holocaust. The villain should be rather self-explanatory. Yet, here is, hogging screentime to only hit on Antonina and then leave until Caro feels like the film needs him again. Distracting from the real story and consuming screen time, the film seems to suffer under the weight of keeping this character around, while never making him anything but useless.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
Scion Films,
Czech Anglo Productions,
LD Entertainment,
Rowe / Miller Productions,
Sierra / Affinity
Release Date Mar 31, 2017
Duration 2 h 7 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline They gave all they had to save all they could
Awards
Women Film Critics Circle Awards
• 2 Nominations
Heartland Film
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Seattle Jewish Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
