![]() ![]() Ackerman records this comment by Jan: “It’s not enough to do research from a distance. This was not simply a necessity due to the care that some of the animals required, it was a scientific approach for Jan. At their villa they kept a number of injured or orphaned zoo animals and allowed the creatures to roam freely about their residence. Starting in 1931 the Zabinskis lived in a villa in Praga, just outside Warsaw, not far from the zoo. The author chose to write about the Zabinskis to honor their great heroism during the Nazi regime in Poland “…when even handing a thirsty Jew a cup of water was punishable by death.” Although the action of the story is carried out primarily through Jan, the lens through which we view the action is Antonina’s. Within this crucible of malevolence, the Zabinskis took great risks to save hundreds of Jews during World War II. Taken primarily from the memoirs, diaries, and autobiographical children’s books of Antonina, Ackerman has produced a book that squarely faces the horror of Hitler’s plans to destroy every aspect of Poland’s multi-faceted identity. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is a harrowing and humbling film that shows humanity in the face of inhumanity.The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman is the historical narrative of Christian Polish zookeepers, Jan Zabinski, a trained zoologist and the director of the Warsaw zoo, and his wife, Antonina. The film is honest without being insensitive, heartbreaking without being melodramatic and uplifting without being contrived. Ironically, the cages became freeing and the locks liberating. Together, their zoo became a place of refuge. The title of the movie seems unfitting, because Antonina was not just a wife, and Jan was not just a zookeeper. Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds”) is haunting and sinister as “Hitler’s Zoologist” Lutz Heck - for a zoologist, he is quite involved in the war effort. Jan, having witnessed Urzsula’s tragedy, takes her in and brings her to the zoo where she finds healing, love and bunnies. Shira Haas (“A Tale of Love and Darkness”) plays the silent and scarred Urszula, a young girl from the Ghetto who was brutally assaulted and raped by two Nazis. ![]() The film shows Antonina as an empowered, brave woman who, partnered with her husband, saved the lives of many while sacrificing their own. The film’s strong cast is led by Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”) as the passionate and kind Antonia, the zookeeper’s wife with a slight Slavic accent and a strong grasp of right and wrong. ![]() Even as the doctor lifts his orphans into the train car that will eventually take them to their dark fate, Korczak tells them whimsical stories about Dr. Korczak twice in the film, but each time Korczak declines. ![]() Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh, “The Broken Circle Breakdown”) tries to save Dr. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” highlights the many opportunities to escape that Korczak refused in order to stay with his children. Korczak was renowned in Poland for his work in children’s education, but now he is known more as the smiling, storytelling, father figure of the Warsaw Ghetto orphanage who died with his children in Treblinka. Yet there’s another story that has yet to be told correctly: that of the children’s doctor, educator and author Dr. Among the darkness of the Ghetto, there existed a small light, a little piece of unknown history. The camera does not hide the death, starvation and disease that permeated its walls. The story is a beautiful portrait of compassion and courage, yet it does not shy away from showing the pain and suffering in the Ghetto. Shockingly, the Germans used the zoo as an arsenal little did they know that the Zabinskis were hiding Jews right under their noses. They developed a strategy in which they smuggled Jews from Ghetto into their zoo for safekeeping until they could escape to safety. The film tells the story of Warsaw Zoo runners, Jan and Antonina Zabinski and how they risked their lives to save over 300 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. Telling the stories of the righteous sheds a little light onto the darkness of tragedy.ĭirected by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”), “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is based on Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction book of the same name. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” details how the Zabinskis sacrificed everything to do the right thing. Jan and Antonina Zabinski were also among the righteous, but only now has their story come fully to light. Oskar Schindler, remembered in “Schindler’s List,” and University of Michigan alum Raoul Wallenberg are two among the over 11,000 people considered “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem. “Righteous Among the Nations” is a term used to identify and honor the non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. ![]()
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