The Zookeeper’s Wife is based on a true story and portrays a pretty accurate account of the Warsaw Zoo and it’s keepers, Antonina and Jan Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the German invasion.
Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife, Antonina (Jessica Chastain) were the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo (Miejski Ogród Zoologiczny), one of the largest and most prolific zoos in 1930s Europe. In the calm of September 1939, Antonina opens the zoo gates. Hours before the zoo opens for the day, a crowd had already gathered to view the many species on display in the zoo. Jan is the director of the Warsaw Zoo and faces the scornful, yet envious advances of Dr. Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl), the head of the Berlin Zoo and “Hitler’s zoologist”.
On September 1, 1939, Antonina and her son Ryszard (Timothy Radford and later, Val Maloku) witnesses the aerial bombardment of Warsaw as German forces storm Poland. The Zoo is not spared, as many animals are killed. Dr. Heck visits the zoo and tries to convince Antonia to let him save the “prize” specimens. Antonina reluctantly consents, but later learns that his motives are suspect. With winter coming, Dr. Heck revisits the zoo, this time to slaughter all the remaining caged animals, which he declares is an act of mercy since the cold would only kill the animals. However, Heck shoots an eagle himself, then casually tells an aide to have it stuffed.
As the scene worsens in Warsaw, Jews are singled out, their stores and shops are looted, and they are eventually herded into the Ghetto. While Two of Zabinskis’ friends, Maurycy Fraenkel (Iddo Goldberg) and his partner Magda Gross (Efrat Dor) looked for a safe place for another friend’s notable insect collection, Antonina makes an unusual offer to shelter Magda in an attic closet. Jan and his wife take stock of what defiance of the Nazis would mean, but come to the realization that they can save one life.
With the zoo to be closed permanently, Jan and Antonia seek out Heck, who has now set up headquarters in Warsaw for his groundbreaking research in animal breeding. The Zabinskis make a daring proposal to turn the remaining structures into a pig farm to ultimately provide food for the occupying forces. In the meanwhile, they devise an elaborate plan to spirit away Jews from the Ghetto. While trying to rescue a group of Jews, Jan discovers a young girl, Urszula (Shira Haas), who had just been raped by two Nazi guards. He rescues her and Antonia and the others hiding at the zoo mentors Urszula through this awful ordeal. The Żabińskis continue to save more Jews, and are even able to disguise women as Aryan by bleaching their hair. In 1942, the Nazis begin deporting Jews out of the Ghetto, and to the death camps. Jan is devastated to see young children being put into cattle cars, leading to the camps. Of course there’s much more to be told but I don’t want to be the one to tell the whole story!
“Historical context
The Zookeeper’s Wife was based on not only Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction book The Zookeeper’s Wife but also relied heavily on the author’s use of the diaries of Antonina Żabińska, published in Poland as Ludzie i zwierzęta (translated as: People and Animals) (1968). In key aspects of historical context, the screenplay follows the story of Antonina and her husband, Jan, closely. Both worked at the Warsaw Zoo, although as shown in the film, Antonina was an assistant to her husband who was the director or “Zookeeper”. Animals were part of their family’s life, and the devastation that resulted from not only the attack on Warsaw and the subsequent pillaging of the zoo is well documented. The actions of Lutz Heck and his animal breeding experiments were also a matter of historical record, although the intimate relationship of the two protagonists, Antonina and Heck, were exaggerated. However, the defiance of Nazi occupation and ultimately, the rescue of over 300 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto were depicted accurately. The contributions and participation of the Zabinski children, Ryszard and Teresa (credited as Theresa in the film) were also notable.”
The Zookeeper’s Wife is well acted and is a well told story. It is always a sad, heart breaking account of a time that is extremely hard to revisit on screen or otherwise but it is so rewarding to know that there were those who successfully helped and cared enough to put their own lives in danger. Very well done — everyone should see this movie!
Well done Stephen Hopkins, Stephan James and Jason Sudeikis. A horrible situation exquisitely acted and well told. Race issues certainly fits right in to today’s on going battles of racism, hatred and bigotry. Makes me think we’ve learned nothing in the last 80 years. It was quite interesting watching the bigotry of the Nazi regime vs the bigotry of the USA. In the end, money and power prevailed. The same as today. There are many, many lessons to be learned from a movie like Race but I fear we’ll learn what we always learn and so the beat goes on the same as it always has. There in the 1930’s we have a man, deemed as the fastest human alive, who could escalate the US to new heights in the Olympic games and we have people on both sides hating the fact that “the man” is Black. It doesn’t matter the accolades we (the US) are about to achieve, only that “the man” is Black. Against all odds, we put him in the race but the country holding the games is worse than we are. They hate Blacks but even more than Blacks, they hate Jews. Having to sit through this racism made me sick and angry. It made me want to jump into the screen and strangle those responsible for stirring up this bigotry. The whole thing is just so senseless and stupid. People fighting because they were born Black or Jewish. How dumb is that and what a waste of time. What is one suppose to do about who they are, as if there’s something wrong with who they are? Jesse Owens should have been able to concentrate on nothing else but winning but instead had to deal with both this own country and the country where the races were being held discriminating against him. After all was said and done, he couldn’t even get a job to support his family. Here is a man who represented his country in the 1936 Olympics and won 4 gold metals but couldn’t get a job because of his skin color. Then you’re criticized for being a lazy non-working bum. This is a bitter pill to swallow. Race really brought out how screwed up the society is and how willing we are to sweep it all under the rug. A dinner was held in Jesse’s honor but he couldn’t go in through the front of the hotel where the dinner was being held. He had to use the service entrance. It’s very hard to sit through movies that cause us to relive this part of history, especially when it’s still happening. I commend Jesse Owens for his abilities, achievements and for holding it together when most would have lost it. Watching Jesse Owen’s struggles from the onset of his career as an Olympian to his bitter sweet victory when a doorman wouldn’t allow him to come in the front entrance of a hotel where he was being honored was a reminder that there’s much work to be done. Freedom begins in your heart.
The Monuments Men is a true story that takes place during WW2 and covers a very important era in history. However, I am sorry to report that this film is not what one would expect. It was a little confusing in the beginning, as I felt the director (George Clooney) assumed we knew military lingo and protocol proceedings. It was as if the characters were carrying on their very own private conversations during an ambiguous opening. The plan was to retrieve art stolen by the Nazis and return it to the rightful owners. The plan was hard for the audience and, surprisingly, the military to understand. I tried to follow along but soon became lost. Midway through, The Monuments Men started to come to life. I feel this was a noble gesture on the part of the US Military and was carried out to the best of their ability. The Nazi’s still managed to destroy millions of paintings rather than allow the owners to repossess them.
CAROL's WORLDS 