THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE – Review

Based on fact, made with noble intent, and grounded by a sincere performance by Jessica Chastain, the Holocaust drama THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE is clumsily executed and so manipulative it practically hands you the tissue and begs you to cry.

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE delves into a little-known aspect of World War II: the part played by the Warsaw Zoo in Poland. It’s based on a novel by Diane Ackerman inspired by the writings of Antonina Zabinski, the zookeeper’s wife of the title. She (played in the film by Chastain) and her husband Jan (Flemish actor Johan Heldenbergh) managed to save over 300 Jews. Spanning roughly seven years beginning in 1939, THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE is set in Warsaw, where the Zabinskis own and operate a popular little zoo. The Nazis invade and plunder the attraction, killing half of the animals and shipping the most valuable to Hitler’s zoo in Berlin. This pillaging is overseen by Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl ), a real-life animal researcher introduced pointing out which animals to dispatch. “Shoot that bird and have it stuffed for my office” he commands, pointing at a magnificent bald eagle, and sure enough, the next scene opens with the poor fowl mounted in the foreground (subtlety is not one of this film’s strong points). Heck is known as “Hitler’s Zoologist”, but instead of converting their attraction to an Evil Petting Zoo, he has it converted into a hog farm so the German soldiers will have bacon to eat while they occupy Poland. While driving into the Warsaw Ghetto to collect refuse to feed the swine, Jan gets the idea to hide its inhabitants, about to be sent to death camps, beneath the trash and transport them back to the zoo where they are hidden and cared for by Antonina.

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE is not a bad film, just a mediocre and overly sentimental Holocaust movie. I feel like I’ve seen this story – the noble do-gooder hiding the Jews from the Nazis – before and done better. There’s some interesting information here about the Resistance and the Underground and the Warsaw uprising so it’s a decent history lesson but the more cinematic elements such as pacing, intrigue, and tension are lacking. The film’s poster, with Chastain nurturing a cute tiger cub, is misleading. After the first 15 minutes, it’s mostly pigs. THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE is rated PG13, neutering the sadism moviegoers have come to expect from the Third Reich who slaughter more animals this time than humans. The Nazis here are notable for their lack of intelligence. Heck is too dim to figure out, despite a couple of “say, what’s that noise behind that wall?” moments, that Jews are hiding right under his nose. When Jan is confronted by a Nazi guard while trying to sneak a Jew past him, he simply barks “This man is a doctor, not a Jew! Do you want me to report you?!” and goes on his way. Nazis were evil but they weren’t this stupid.

Chastain is good but this is not one of the actresses’ more memorable characters. Antonina is introduced leaving an upscale dinner party to tend to the difficult birth of a baby elephant. But as the story progresses, Chastain becomes more passive, eventually relying on her sexuality to distract Lutz Heck. It’s a 180-degree turn from the smartest-ice-queen-in-the-room character Chastain played in last year’s MISS SLOANE, similarly one-note, but at least a different note. Better is Johan Heldenbergh, stoic as Jan, whose role is just as central to the story as Antonina’s. THE ZOOKEEPER AND HIS WIFE may have been a more appropriate title as it’s Jan who has the ideas and takes the risks to pull off their caper. A late development with Jan getting shot after joining the armed resistance, his fate unclear, doesn’t make sense. It seems like he was doing plenty for the resistance with the hog farm ruse, so it’s unclear why he felt the need to risk all of that.

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE looks good with careful attention to period detail, yet still can’t escape the trappings of a conventional TV drama. The Zabinski’s story deserves better.

2 1/2 of 5 Stars

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE opens in St. Louis March 31st exclusively at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater