The Zookeeper's Wife (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
Looking for a springtime Holocaust movie that tells a poignant based-on-a-true-story? Well, this April offers up 'The Zookeeper's Wife' (adapted from a novel & directed by New Zealand's Niki Caro, of Whale Rider, North Country). This film begins on a gorgeous day in 1939 at Poland's Warsaw Zoo, where Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) is helping her doctor husband Jan (Belgian actor, Johan Heldenbergh) tend the various loveable animals. Antonina isn't just Jan's devoted wife; she's also involved in the care/keeping of the animals, many of which adore her {like a cute baby camel that runs alongside her bicycle}. One evening, she even resuscitates a newborn elephant calf who can't breathe -- with its concerned mother at her side {this is my favorite scene of the movie; brought a tear to my eye}.
But before long, German aircrafts start dropping bombs killing many of the terrified animals, while others escape to roam the streets. Led by Berlin's chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (a sinister Daniel Bruhl), the Nazis take-over the grounds, saving only 'prize specimens' for selective breeding ... then slaughtering the rest {me no likey}. Meanwhile, in the heart of Warsaw, the Jews are being corralled into a crowded ghetto; concentration camps may await them. Dismayed at the brutality, Antonia & Jan come up with perilous plan. Since the German soldiers love pork, they'll turn the zoo into a pig farm, feeding them garbage from the ghetto. While Antonia cares for their depleted menagerie, Jan drives his truck to said ghetto, where he hides Jews in the garbage bins; smuggling them into his home, where they hide until the Resistance transports them to freedom. Since Lutz Heck often makes random visits to the zoo, it's up to Antonia to keep him 'distracted'. Melodrama ensues.
This movie is pretty (lovely camerawork, period sets/costumes) & the story is important, but I wasn't overly thrilled with it, overall. Jessica Chastain is captivating in the titular role. Her deep love for those she cares for - both animals & humans - is apparent. But everyone else is given paint-by-the-numbers characterizations; including Jan (good actor, but he's got little to work with), Lutz (Daniel Bruhl metaphorically twists his moustache, but he's got little to work with), & the Jews (cardboard cut-outs, character-wise). The film is at its strongest when it focuses on the Zabinski home & the zoo; the bond btwn. the family & their animals is palpable. I'm reminded of the son's relationship with a lion cub & a skunk; Antonina & a traumatized raped Jewish girl bond over a bunny, etc.. But outside of that, the inherent drama involving the Jews & the Nazis is SO been-there-done-that that I became bored & a little sleepy through lengthy sections.
There is tension IN the story, but as written/directed/executed, I wasn't "tense" -- and I should have been. The script is too perfunctory & cliched. Characters make decisions that befuddled me. And the film crams in 7 yrs. worth of events into 2 hours unsuccessfully; in one scene, Antonina is not pregnant, in the next, she's about to give birth -- that's poor screenwriting & editing. The movie also tries to tug at the heart strings over & over again; with copious scenes of people crying. But I wasn't as moved or ultimately uplifted as I should have been. I also was put-off by many disturbing scenes of wartime carnage (bombings, executions of people, horrific shooting of animals). I don't want to get too negative. I nitpick because I liked it enough to be frustrated by what could have been. As is, it's a flawed, but sensitively directed, well-intentioned WWII film that reminds us of those compassionate, brave people who risk it all to do what's right in the face of danger.
But before long, German aircrafts start dropping bombs killing many of the terrified animals, while others escape to roam the streets. Led by Berlin's chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (a sinister Daniel Bruhl), the Nazis take-over the grounds, saving only 'prize specimens' for selective breeding ... then slaughtering the rest {me no likey}. Meanwhile, in the heart of Warsaw, the Jews are being corralled into a crowded ghetto; concentration camps may await them. Dismayed at the brutality, Antonia & Jan come up with perilous plan. Since the German soldiers love pork, they'll turn the zoo into a pig farm, feeding them garbage from the ghetto. While Antonia cares for their depleted menagerie, Jan drives his truck to said ghetto, where he hides Jews in the garbage bins; smuggling them into his home, where they hide until the Resistance transports them to freedom. Since Lutz Heck often makes random visits to the zoo, it's up to Antonia to keep him 'distracted'. Melodrama ensues.
This movie is pretty (lovely camerawork, period sets/costumes) & the story is important, but I wasn't overly thrilled with it, overall. Jessica Chastain is captivating in the titular role. Her deep love for those she cares for - both animals & humans - is apparent. But everyone else is given paint-by-the-numbers characterizations; including Jan (good actor, but he's got little to work with), Lutz (Daniel Bruhl metaphorically twists his moustache, but he's got little to work with), & the Jews (cardboard cut-outs, character-wise). The film is at its strongest when it focuses on the Zabinski home & the zoo; the bond btwn. the family & their animals is palpable. I'm reminded of the son's relationship with a lion cub & a skunk; Antonina & a traumatized raped Jewish girl bond over a bunny, etc.. But outside of that, the inherent drama involving the Jews & the Nazis is SO been-there-done-that that I became bored & a little sleepy through lengthy sections.
There is tension IN the story, but as written/directed/executed, I wasn't "tense" -- and I should have been. The script is too perfunctory & cliched. Characters make decisions that befuddled me. And the film crams in 7 yrs. worth of events into 2 hours unsuccessfully; in one scene, Antonina is not pregnant, in the next, she's about to give birth -- that's poor screenwriting & editing. The movie also tries to tug at the heart strings over & over again; with copious scenes of people crying. But I wasn't as moved or ultimately uplifted as I should have been. I also was put-off by many disturbing scenes of wartime carnage (bombings, executions of people, horrific shooting of animals). I don't want to get too negative. I nitpick because I liked it enough to be frustrated by what could have been. As is, it's a flawed, but sensitively directed, well-intentioned WWII film that reminds us of those compassionate, brave people who risk it all to do what's right in the face of danger.