07-01-2019, 17:29
The Zookeeper’s Wife
![[Image: The_Zookeepers_Wife.jpeg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/The_Zookeepers_Wife.jpeg)
Based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, the movie tells the story of the Zabinski’s (although in actual fact the film is skewed more to her character) who were based at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland when WWII broke out; they lived in a house on the premises, Jan Zabinski was the director of the zoo and also Superintendent of Warsaw’s public parks during the occupation – 1939 to 1945. He was appointed Superintendent by the Nazi administration and as such was allowed to enter the ghetto with impunity which was very helpful in terms of his resistance activities.
It’s all based on fact and follows the events and the lives of those involved fairly accurately from what I can tell. Antonina Zabinska was a bit of an animal whisperer – she had a way with creatures, great and small, and both she, and her husband, were obviously humanitarians of some note. The zoo, unfortunately, fell almost directly in the line of fire of German bombs (close to an airfield) and the cages and structures sustained much damage as well as many of animals being hurt and killed – must have been absolutely horrendously awful.
The long and the short of it is, that at grave risk to themselves, they used their home and the zoo to hide 300 Jews, over time, who were saved from a terrible fate as a result of those actions. Antonina would play the piano to indicate when it was safe for the people to emerge from their hiding places – tunnels connecting animal houses, etc., and her husband helped to arrange new identities, slipped food into the ghetto where a starvation diet of less than 200 calories per person per day had been implemented by the occupying Germans (the Jewish people ate the pork he took in – a question of survival) and was able to smuggle people in and out of places, often hidden under animal fodder in his truck. It’s a bit more convoluted than that and there’s a Nazi officer involved, but I don’t want to give away the entire plot.
IMHO the movie is well made and shows the horrible harsh realities that war brought to so many. It’s a story of courage and defiance, the healing power of nature, man’s inhumanity to man as well as to other creatures, and conversely, of the kindness, compassion and generosity of the indomitable human spirit.
I’m not a big fan of keeping animals in captivity, nor of zoos in general, (as mere curiosities, at any rate) but I can understand how misplaced or rescued animals might need, and should be given refuge, especially when humans are to blame for their condition and/or displacement, which is probably the case more often than not. It strikes me that there are parallels in this story.
Well worth a watch IMHO – I think it’s important to know about these histories.
The trailer … the stirring soundtrack by one Harry Gregson-Williams …
Based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, the movie tells the story of the Zabinski’s (although in actual fact the film is skewed more to her character) who were based at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland when WWII broke out; they lived in a house on the premises, Jan Zabinski was the director of the zoo and also Superintendent of Warsaw’s public parks during the occupation – 1939 to 1945. He was appointed Superintendent by the Nazi administration and as such was allowed to enter the ghetto with impunity which was very helpful in terms of his resistance activities.
It’s all based on fact and follows the events and the lives of those involved fairly accurately from what I can tell. Antonina Zabinska was a bit of an animal whisperer – she had a way with creatures, great and small, and both she, and her husband, were obviously humanitarians of some note. The zoo, unfortunately, fell almost directly in the line of fire of German bombs (close to an airfield) and the cages and structures sustained much damage as well as many of animals being hurt and killed – must have been absolutely horrendously awful.
The long and the short of it is, that at grave risk to themselves, they used their home and the zoo to hide 300 Jews, over time, who were saved from a terrible fate as a result of those actions. Antonina would play the piano to indicate when it was safe for the people to emerge from their hiding places – tunnels connecting animal houses, etc., and her husband helped to arrange new identities, slipped food into the ghetto where a starvation diet of less than 200 calories per person per day had been implemented by the occupying Germans (the Jewish people ate the pork he took in – a question of survival) and was able to smuggle people in and out of places, often hidden under animal fodder in his truck. It’s a bit more convoluted than that and there’s a Nazi officer involved, but I don’t want to give away the entire plot.
IMHO the movie is well made and shows the horrible harsh realities that war brought to so many. It’s a story of courage and defiance, the healing power of nature, man’s inhumanity to man as well as to other creatures, and conversely, of the kindness, compassion and generosity of the indomitable human spirit.
I’m not a big fan of keeping animals in captivity, nor of zoos in general, (as mere curiosities, at any rate) but I can understand how misplaced or rescued animals might need, and should be given refuge, especially when humans are to blame for their condition and/or displacement, which is probably the case more often than not. It strikes me that there are parallels in this story.
Well worth a watch IMHO – I think it’s important to know about these histories.
The trailer … the stirring soundtrack by one Harry Gregson-Williams …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
