And though our righteous Gentile heroes are putting their lives on the line to smuggle Jews out with a garbage removal scheme, other Poles dress up to take the second world war equivalent of a selfie in front of the fortified gate. Despite starvation and terror, there are still teachers and pupils. The scenes in the ghetto are horrifying and, impressively, able to find corners of life that haven’t been exposed in the myriad Holocaust films that have come before.
#Review on the zookeepers wife movie
The movie works best, though, when director Caro keeps things dialogue-free. The actual European actors, the Flemish Heldenbergh and German Daniel Brühl (playing “Hitler’s head zoologist” Lutz Heck), pump the brakes a bit on their inflection, leaving Chastain out to dry by comparison. Chastain goes all-in on her Polish accent, to the point of distraction. But by the time she’s giving CPR to a baby elephant as the mama elephant trumpets with worry, it begins to feel like a Monty Python sketch. She rides her bike through the Warsaw zoo, feeding apples to hippopotamuses, a small camel trotting with her. The opening scenes are a giddy swirl of Antonina’s kindness. There are simply way too many moments like the howler cited above to recommend this without serious reservations.
Which isn’t to say this is a disaster director Niki Caro actually has a considerable amount of storytelling finesse here and there. All the elements are lined up for a major prestige success, until the movie itself starts to roll. It’s a flabbergasting bit of writing and fairly indicative of why this adaptation of a successful book with an A-list actress is being released in March and not November.
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