The Zookeeper’s
Wife
Jessica Chastain (smitten) portrays the leading
character in the real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a
hero to hundreds during World War II as Antonina Żabińska and her husband, Dr.
Jan Żabińsk.
Its 1939 and we find the happy couple living in
Warsaw Poland flourishing. They are the stewards and care takers of the Warsaw
Zoo that has an array of animals ranging from Elephants to Tigers and Lions. But
when their country is invaded and most of the animals transported to Berlin or
shot on the spot by the German Army, Jan and Antonina are stunned by the
events and are forced to report to the Reich's newly appointed chief zoologist,
Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl of "Captain America: Civil War"). When they
see their community of Jewish friends and neighbors being brutalized, rape and
rounded up, the couple strategize a way to fight back on their own terms with them
covertly working with the underground Resistance. Their idea was to use their
zoo as a hiding place for saving as many lives out of what has become the
Jewish Warsaw Ghetto. By doing so in “plain sight” they were putting their
lives and the lives of their children at great risk for possible immediate execution
if they are discovered.
REVIEW: Jessica Chastain is always the glue to any
film she is in. Why? Because she is just always great at everything she does, even
when the written material is slightly below her. You can almost be 100% certain
she will have moments where she lifts up dialogue in spite of the predictability
of its development which happens in “TZW” as well.
Chastain is nothing short of glowing and deeply
honest in her portrayal of this virtually unknown heroin of World War 2.
And while the film seems to soft pedal what I could only imagine were the day
to day real life and death messy struggles to hiding people in their home and zoo
for 4 years of the war, the film does get one irrefutable fact across very well. She
and her husband were extraordinary heroes.
Daniel Bruhl, who you remember from “Inglorious
Basterds” as the heroic idolized German Officer “Fredrick Zoller”, gives a solid
performance as the lightly conflicted German Chief Zoologist Officer, Lutz Heck,
who struggles with his passion for the cause of the Third Reich and his passionate affections for Antonina. His villainy here while muted at times is still compelling
just enough to give the film its much needed sinister threat.
Ultimately the sweeping historical arc of this
story is far more interesting than the film’s flawed execution on the big screen
itself, as the screenplays seems to lack the much needed consistent spark to
make this profound true drama rise to the occasion it richly deserves.
The story, the actors and Director are all well
intentioned here into making a serious movie drama with real consequences, as it
does have some real spine tingling moments here and there. But in the end this
story could have been much, much more if someone were only willing to be much harsher
in telling this deeply moving story with ugly warts and all, rather than
relying on the more safe gravitational visceral pull to always keep things somewhat sweet,
antiseptic and theatrically polite. Still even with these issues aside I genuinely
recommend “TZW” as something you definitely should see.
Edmund Burke famously stated, “the
only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. “TZW”
clearly makes the case now for the inclusion of “women” to that line, with much gratitude and applause for the performance by Jessica Chastain here.
3.25 Stars
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