Directed by Niki Caro, The Zookeeper’s Wife stars Jessica Chastain as Antonina and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński, played by Johan Heldenbergh. They are the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, one of the largest and most prolific zoos in 1930s Europe.

In 1939, Antonina opened the zoo gates as a crowd had gathered to view the many species on display. Her husband Jan, recently appointed the director of the Warsaw Zoo, faces the scornful yet envious advances of Dr. Lutz Heck, played by Daniel Brühl, the head of the Berlin Zoo, as “Hitler’s zoologist.”

Shortly, Antonina and her son Ryszard, played by Timothy Radford and later Val Maloku, are shocked to witness the aerial bombardment of Warsaw as German forces storm Poland. The zoo is not to be spared, and bombs destroy the cages and kill many of the animals. As Polish resistance collapses under overwhelming odds, Dr. Heck arrives at the zoo, beseeching Antonia to let him save the “prize” specimens, which she reluctantly grants, but then learns that his motives are suspect.

Warsaw becomes the scene of a monstrous upheaval with Jews first identified and their stores and shops looted. Jan and his wife decide to help a Jewish friend hide from the Nazis. The Zabrinskis devise an elaborate plan to spirit away Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, even as it is being devastated by a relentless, murderous Nazi juggernaut. Snatching children and adults from the ghetto, over 300 “guests” inhabit the Zabrinski’s home on their way to freedom, with new identification papers and, sometimes, even a wig and a makeover to fool the Nazis.

Watching Chastain in the trailers and clips shows so much talent. She is so talented and from my hometown.

Films directed by Niki Caro:

Whale Rider

McFarland, USA

North Country