"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017, PG-13)

It struck me while watching this film that it’s a Hidden Figures type of movie, a true story about incredible people that many of us have likely never heard of.  I hope Hollywood continues this trend of uncovering the remarkable in history and offering us stories we haven’t seen before.  Even though there have been many films on the same topic as The Zookeeper’s Wife, the film tells its story with a specificity that makes it feel both immediate and intimate (premise spoilers.)

Like so many, Antonina Zabinsky and her husband Jan find their world torn apart by the Nazis.  Many of the animals in their cherished, lovingly-cultivated zoo are killed in the blitzkrieg on Warsaw, and what remain of the zoo’s structures are appropriated by the Germans to use as an armory.  As Antonina and Jan see Jewish friends rounded up and sent to live in inhumane conditions in the ghetto, they take it upon themselves to do whatever they can who help people get out and get to safety.  Under the noses of their German invaders, they smuggle Jews out of the ghetto, give them refuge on the grounds of the zoo, and help them escape the country.

This can be an undeniably hard film to watch – I was ugly-crying in the theater when the trains started rolling up for the ghetto’s so-called “evacuation” – but it’s also an uplifting one about human indomitability amid untold horrors.  I love seeing Antonina and Jan’s bravery, compassion, determination, and sheer ingenuity in the aid they provide during the war.  Their plan is as well-thought-out as it is wide-reaching, taking part in every facet of escape, from inside the ghetto all the way to freedom, while maintaining a shrewd cover story to conduct their work in plain sight.  The story comes to life in the details, like Antonina using her piano playing as coded signals to warn hidden Jews of danger or let them know when it’s safe to come out, or the Jewish children staying in the Zabinskys’ spare animal cages in the cellar decorating the walls with Stars of David and drawings of their experiences.  Even though I know there were so many brave people in Europe at this time saving lives, I appreciate getting the chance to sink into this couple’s story and see what it was like for them.  The film does a superb job of making you feel the immediacy of the story.  There are times when I think it’s easy to be so overwhelmed by the atrocities of the Holocaust that you can lose sight of it, and seeing the smaller story of one family’s experience can help contextualize it – remind you of the people rather than the numbers.

I really enjoy Jessica Chastain’s performance as Antonina.  She’s a different sort of hero but one I love seeing – soft-spoken and tremendously tenderhearted, but possessing an inner strength that few would guess she has.  She actually reminds me quite a bit of Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts, and not just because they’re both huge animal lovers.  Rather, it’s because both have a near-fathomless capacity for empathy, and both are at their fiercest in defense of others.  I’m not familiar with John Heldenbergh, who plays Jan, but he’s also very good (watching his trips into the ghetto is harrowing) and makes an excellent screen partner for Chastain.  Daniel Brühl is in the film as well, turning in his usual strong work in the complex role of a professional acquaintance of the Zabinskys who rises to prominence in the German army during the war.

Warnings

Violence (including the implied rape of a child and violence toward animals,) strong thematic elements, disturbing images, sexual content, and smoking/drinking.

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