Review of The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) by Kaptenvideo — 15 Apr 2017

The husband-and-wife team of the Warsaw Zoo keepers (Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh) help save hundreds of people and animals during Nazi Germany invasion and Second World War. Also starring Daniel Brühl, Shira Haas, Michael McElhatton, Iddo Goldberg.

Based on Diane Ackerman's non-fiction book which was greatly inspired by the unpublished diary of the Zabinskis, this poignant tale of survival has gotten an suitably old-school screen treatment. Beautiful colors and horrible deeds only men are capable of.

Some will be turned off by the sugary, even borderline tacky approach. The others will like the overall melodramatic feel, reminiscent of golden times of Hollywood, and how deftly the story can manipulate with our heartstrings.

There’s gonna be a lot of misty eyes and runny noses in front of the screen, I can assure from my own experience. Some will not probably even want to continue after the first 20 minutes, because the first act will totally break some hearts.

If you are the kind of person who doesn’t like animals or care about violence against them, then you will probably feel a bit bored and may also want to quit early. It’s really more of a great war movie for animal lovers (a sparsely populated subgenre) than a great war movie in general.

But it’s got enough suspense and heart to compensate for rather middle-of-the-road script which takes a lot less risks than its main characters.

If you liked „Allied“, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, then you can predict the overall experience offered by „The Zookeeper’s Wife“. Except there’s less action and much more tears among the public.

Seriously, if you’re a tender soul, this movie will shock you.