The Zookeeper's Wife

Director: Jeff Abberley, Kim Zubick Jeff Abberley

Overview

A husband (Johan Heldenbergh) and wife (Jessica Chastain) in Nazi-occupied Poland use their positions as caretakers at the Warsaw Zoo to shepherd Jews out of the country. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, The Zookeeper's Wife was directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider).

Product Details

Release Date:	07/04/2017
UPC:	0025192396540
Original Release:	2017
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:06:00
Sales rank:	30,003

Special Features

Deleted Scenes; The Making of The Zookeeper's Wife; The Zabinski Family

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Shira Haas	Urszula
Timothy Radford	Ryszard Zabinski (Younger)
Efrat Dor	Magda Gross
Val Maloku	Ryszard Zabinski (Older)
Martha Issová	Actor
Daniel Ratimorsky	Samuel Kenigswein
Frederick Preston	Miecio Kenigswein,Stefcio Kenigswein
Viktoria Zakharyanova	Actor
Arnost Goldflam	Dr. Janusz Korczak
Marian Mitas	Stefan
Martin Hofmann	Szyon Tenenbaum
Jitka Smutná	Pietrasia
Waldemar Kobus	Dr. Ziegler
Viktorie Jenickova	Actor
Adira B. Cole Abbett	Teresa Zabinska (9 months old)
Hana Pindurova	Roza's Mother
Magdalena Lamparska	Wanda Englert
Vilma Frantova	Zofia Kossak
Magdalena Sidonova	Janina Rabbe
Ester Kocickova	Eugenia Wasowska
Slavko Sobin	Mr. Keller
Natasa Burger	Roza Anzelowna
Petra Buckova	Wanda Filipowa
Yaz Canli	Secretary
Tommy Kijas	Polish Solider
Daniel Sidon	Young Resistance Fighter
Martha Issova	Regina Kenigswein
Michael McElhatton	Actor
Iddo Goldberg	Actor

Technical Credits

Diane Ackerman

Angela Workman

Jeff Abberley	Director,Producer
Kim Zubick	Director,Producer
Diane Levine	Producer
Jessica Chastain	Producer,Executive Producer
Jennifer Monroe	Producer,Executive Producer
Michael Tollin	Producer,Producer,Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Kevan Van Thompson	Producer,Executive Producer
Joanne Sennitt	Executive Producer
Pete Shilaimon	Executive Producer
Julia Blackman	Executive Producer
Mickey Liddell	Executive Producer
Diane Ackerman	Screenwriter
Petr Cechák	Sound Effects
Robert Dufek	Sound Effects
Diane Levin	Producer
Maya Kvetny	Casting
Elaine Grainger	Casting
Angela Workman	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

It is said that there are two types of evil people in this world: Those who do evil, and those who witness evil being done but do nothing. The Zookeeper's Wife, based on the book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, tells the story of the Zabinskis, a real-life Polish couple who refused to witness evil and do nothing. The Zabinskis rescued and sheltered approximately 300 Jewish people from the Warsaw ghettos during World War II, ultimately saving their lives. The film feels timely, considering the political agitation and general unrest pervasive in today's world. The movie opens in 1939 with a slice-of-life look at the Warsaw Zoo, which Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) run together as they raise their son -- and it is a sweet life, almost bordering on saccharine with its lush, colorful scenes of Antonina bidding each animal in the zoo good morning with the air of Disney princess. Things do not stay this idyllic for long, as the dark cloud of the Nazi regime settles over Poland, quickly changing life for everyone. The zoo is bombed as Warsaw submits to a brutal German occupation, and the Zabinskis see their Jewish friends ripped from their lives and thrown into the slums. Choosing to take a stand, they come up with a plan to use their zoo as a pig farm to provide meat to German soldiers. In doing so, they gain access to the ghettos, which allows them to smuggle people out in the garbage they collect for their pigs. Antonina's story is at the forefront of the narrative, as she struggles to maintain the façade of a Nazi collaborator while keeping both her family and her charges safe. There is a woeful lack of historical fiction that sees war from a feminine perspective, and the ever-talented Chastain brings raw, human emotion to her portrayal of this important but often overlooked vantage point. Unfortunately, the film struggles to balance its celebration of its everyday hero and heroine with its depiction of the horrors of the Holocaust. Antonina's tenuous relationship with a Nazi scientist who frequents her zoo (Daniel Brühl) is equally fascinating and repulsive, but the script doesn't delve deep enough into her actual feelings on the matter. Instead, it seems like the movie is too timid to explore this idea, with the result that the relationship remains nebulous and glossed over; it's a waste of the actors' chemistry. That isn't the only aspect of the story that's underdeveloped -- while there are moments of anxiety, heartbreak, and terror, the overall portrait of wartime suffering never quite reaches the level of realism that the film clearly hopes to achieve: It always pulls back just before things get too intense. The Jewish people in the Zabinskis' care are never seen as individuals, which hurts the movie's sense of authenticity and ignores a crucial point-of-view in this story. By not fully committing to its trickier onscreen relationships, the screenplay ends up painting the Holocaust in reductive tropes. The Zookeeper's Wife does provoke thought and emotion, but its message would have landed much more powerfully if it had dug deeper.