Monday, April 3, 2017

Review: Zoo Keeper's Wife

The Zoo Keeper's Wife is a World War II movie about a married couple who own a zoo in Warsaw, Poland.  Once Germany invades, they take over the zoo and kill all of the animals.  The German zoologist has a crush on Jessica Chastain's character.  She and her husband use this and convince him to let them raise pigs in their zoo.  The pigs would be used as meat for the German Army.  They use logic and appeal to the head Nazi by suggesting that the garbage from the ghetto be used as the pigs' food.

Once the couple has clearance to get inside of the ghetto, they take out Jews in the slop buckets, covering them with garbage.  The Jews are hidden inside of their zoo.  A few Jews become hundreds. Another German who is sympathetic to their cause offers another way to save them.  The zoo couple take the Jews straight out the only entrance of the ghetto.
My Review: Can't say enough good things about this movie.  The story draws you in immediately.  I consider myself somewhat of a history buff, but this was the first time I heard of this story.  I love the animal scenes with the elephants.  This was a great story of selflessness.  
My only critique in the movie revolves around the relationship between Jessica Chastain and the Nazi zoologist.  In the story, Jessica Chastain and the Nazi never have an affair.  At the end, he gets rough with her, but stops himself.  I don't think this would really happen.  A real Nazi would have taken her with or without her permission.  The same Nazi pretends to kill her son, but then she finds out he was only scaring her.  Again, I don't think a real Nazi would hold back.  Nonetheless, I highly recommend the flick.  4.5/5 Stars.

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