The Zookeeper's Wife
2017
**½
Director: Niki Caro
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Brühl, Timothy Radford, Efrat Dor, Shira Haas, Michael McElhatton, Val Maloku, Martha Issová, Goran Kostić
Antonina and Jan Żabiński run the Warsaw Zoo, which is forced to shut down when the Nazis occupy Poland in 1939. The couple risks their lives by using the zoo as a temporary hiding place for hundreds of Jews. Niki Caro's fact-based historical drama was adapted from Diane Ackerman's 2007 non-fiction book. This is a rushed and forgettable film, and somewhat ill-judged attempt to tell an uplifting story about the Holocaust. Instead of gripping drama, it offers a distracting mishmash of English accents. Jessica Chastain gives an overly whispery and delicate performance in the lead. Daniel Brühl's formulaic character turns from a sympathetic zoologist to an evil Nazi scientist overnight.
