It at least sustains a cool pictorial grandeur in its portrayal of the Nazi invasion of Poland as bombers sweep the skies and armored tanks roll into Warsaw as the city erupts in panic, its peace and quiet shattered in one horrifying instant. Otherwise, “The Zookeeper’s Wife” plays like a medium-gloss rerun of other more gripping depictions of Nazi evil and Jewish suffering. In this surefire set piece, which feels shoehorned into the film, Antonina saves the life of a baby elephant to which she administers CPR, risking being trampled by the adorable creature’s agitated mother. The most emotional scene has nothing to do with Nazis, Jews or the Holocaust. You can trust animals, but not people, she declares. In these tender moments, “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”), from an anemic screenplay by Angela Workman, shucks off its modesty and transforms into the sentimental portrait of a beautiful woman and the animals she cares for like a devoted parent. What does it say that the most stirring scenes in a movie that avoids graphic depictions of Nazi barbarism involve the heroic title character, Antonina Zabinska (Jessica Chastain), lovingly interacting with the animals in the Warsaw Zoo, which she runs with her husband, Jan (Johan Heldenbergh)? The book tells the true story of a Polish couple who rescued about 300 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust and sheltered them in their zoo. “‘Schindler’s List’ With Pets”: That’s my suggested alternate title for “The Zookeeper’s Wife.” This mild-mannered Holocaust film probably wasn’t conceived as family fare but is so timid and sanitized it almost feels safe for children.Įxcept for its scenes involving animals, this handsome, excessively fastidious screen adaptation of Diane Ackerman’s 2007 nonfiction best seller is a polite but pallid recycling of Holocaust movie tropes with epic pretensions.
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