The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)

 

            “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is the true story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski. They ran the Warsaw Zoo before Germany invaded Poland in 1939. The movie is based on Diane Ackerman’s nonfiction book. Ackerman was inspired by the unpublished diary of Antonina Zabinska and Jan Zabinski. It was directed by Niki Caro. She had female producers, a female camera operator, a female production designer, a female stunt coordinator, and a female set designer. The first cut of the film was over 3 hours long. All of the animals are real, the movie did not use CGI.  The movie was a modest success at the box office.

            The film begins in the summer of 1939. The head of the Berlin Zoo, Heck Lutz (Danial Bruhl), visits the Warsaw Zoo and is hosted by Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and Antonina (Jessica Chastain). He seems to be a nice guy and Bruhl does not always play villains. The zoo is bombed on Sept. 1, 1939 as part of the Nazi invasion. Jan wants to flee, but Antonina refuses to leave the surviving animals. Heck arrives soon after. He tells the couple that the zoo’s animals are going to be killed for the war effort (meat and soup), but he will save the prized ones for his zoo. The Zabinski’s convince him to allow them to convert the zoo into a pig farm to produce pork.  Heck agrees because he can use the zoo as his laboratory for his quest to recreate the extinct auroch (the ancestor of modern cattle). Part of the reason for Heck’s interest in the zoo is he is interested in Antonina. She has to fend him off as she hides Jewish families at the zoo. Jan smuggles Jews out of the ghetto in trucks loaded with slop for the pigs. The Zabinskis have put themselves in a very dangerous situation.

            “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is an inspiring tale and it tells a different Holocaust story. It helps that it is true because otherwise it could be deemed a white savior movie. The acting benefits from Chastain and Bruhl who are always stellar. Bruhl’s character is similar to his in “Inglourious Basterds”. Charming, at first. Other than the two stars, the film is average. It does not attempt to horrify the audience. It assumes you know that what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto was terrible. It has more suspense than terror. There are no ridiculous escapes, but some close calls. I assume the lack of fireworks is because the movie adheres to the true story. Does it?

            The basics of the story are factual. The Zabinskis did use their zoo to save Jews. However, much of their story has been fictionalized. Most of the fudging has to do with Heck. He was the head of the Berlin Zoo and he was obsessed with the auroch. He benefited greatly from Nazi conquests because he could acquire animals for his experiments from many zoos. He was personal friends with Herman Goering and some of his “cattle” ended up on Goering’s estate. (He created “Heck cattle” and “Heck horses”, but they are not aurochs.) He did not start out as a friend to the Zabinskis and was not a sexual predator as the film depicts him. There is a mention of him in Antonina’s diary, but she describes him as being very kind. There was no insinuation of a romance, but he might have been sweet on her. He did organize the killing of all the “unimportant” animals. This included a hunting expedition on the zoo grounds, on a drunken New Years Eve. After this, he left Warsaw and did not have any more interactions with the Zabinskis. He did not pretend to shoot their son Ryszard, but another Nazi officer did. Jan was appointed director of all public parks in Warsaw. This allowed him access to the Ghetto. He did not work alone is getting Jews out, but was allied to the Jewish Combat Organization and the Polish Underground State. He did not smuggle Jews out under pig slops. He did turn the zoo into a pig farm and smuggled pork into the Ghetto. The Nazis would not have been duped that easily. Antonina, an accomplished pianist, did use music to warn the Jews that the Nazis were there. There were some close calls, but the scene where Antonina rushes home to save the hiders before Heck arrives is pure Hollywood. The families had been moved before the Warsaw Uprising because Jan was aware of when it would happen. They did not leave Stars of David on the walls of their hiding place. Jan fought in the uprising, was wounded, and captured. The most commendable service the movie does for history is it includes Janusz Korczak. He ran an orphanage in the ghetto and he did accompany his kids to death in a concentration camp. The Zabinskis were recognized as Righteous Amongst the Nations after the war.

            Knowing the history behind the movie, I would say that the movie took some liberties to make Antonina the main character and invented a romance between her and Heck. Jan got shortchanged in the script. However, the movie does a good job highlighting four fascinating people. You learn about them and are entertained in the bargain. I have to give credit to a Holocaust movie that focuses on a Gentile woman who risked her life in the Holocaust. She was not the only one and represents all the others.

 

GRADE  =  C