The Zoo Keeper's Wife

I am glad that someone else saw it; I was considering starting a thread myself.

Personally, I find the film mediocre and disappointing, although I will try to see it once more in the theater. The main problem, I feel, is the lack of sustained depth and sustained scenes. The movie is in too much of a hurry, constantly cutting matters short and moving on—and usually moving on to filler, to scenes of hustling-and-bustling, coming-and-going, the conveyance of narrative without real depth or probing or exploration. There are some moments of genuine suspense, but in one of the critical scenes (when the ), the film unfortunately relies on "surprise" rather than creating "suspense." The , and Jessica Chastain's response is excellent, but even there, I . And speaking of Chastain, she is very good in the film—naturalistic despite the immense burdens that her character must bear and the delicate dance that she must orchestrate—but the other characters are insufficiently developed. Again, the movie needs more sustenance, more depth, longer and stronger scenes rather than mere and sporadic "moments." Some of the cinematography is nice, especially early on with the animals, but the score is banal. And while the subject matter is great, the film offers little in the way of fresh insight into the horrors of Nazi fascism, aside from the respectable yet rather obvious . 

I believe that director Niki Coro did a far superior job with her previous film, McFarland, USA, which is an underrated gem—a "very good" movie and one of the five-to-ten best releases from 2015. (I saw it three times in the theater.) In that film, the central actor, Kevin Costner, also delivers a strong performance, but the characters around the protagonist are much better developed than in The Zookeeper's Wife, leading to a far more engaging nexus of relationships. McFarland, USA takes its time to develop character, humanity, theme, and irony in a way that The Zookeeper's Wife does not, and as a result, it feels fresh—taking a new and nuanced look at relevant social matter that otherwise could have been trite. The film maintains some ambiguity and ambivalence, too, without sacrificing its heart and soul.

The Zookeeper's Wife, conversely, reminds me more of such vastly overrated mediocrities as 2014's The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game, movies that strive not for greatness, but the appearance of greatness. They coast along, go through the motions, overly rely on graceless montage, and then try to deliver powerful "moments" in scenes that are actually quite stilted. Those scenes and moments do not pay off, because the movies declined to do the hard work of probing and sustained exploration along the way. Yet those "moments"—and that appearance of greatness—entrance enough critics to score a plethora of Oscar nominations.   

Unfortunately, The Zookeeper's Wife ends up functioning in a similar manner. I do not feel that this result is intentional or cynical by Niki Coro or the other filmmakers—the movie's heart is in the right place, and it does not want to appear great without actually doing the work. Instead, the film just makes some strategic mistakes that drive it into a similarly frustrating pattern. Perhaps there was a problem with adapting the novel and not knowing what kinds of scenes and material to leave out or minimize in order to maximize what really counts. 

Like McFarland, Zookeeper's is earnest. But in this movie, the earnestness plays mechanically, rather than with the fluid, poetic grace of McFarland. 

I do appreciate the subject matter, and I agree that the film serves as a reminder of Nazi Germany's chilling experience for Jews and others deemed expendable by the regime (including, well, beautiful animals). I will try to see the film again, but I found it to be a mediocre movie of unrealized potential. 

Weird thats the same director as well.

I love animals as well, which is part of the reason why the film interested me—in addition to the historical aspects. And I thought that some of the zoo scenes and animal scenes early on—before, during, and after the were some of the movie's best. (The scene is quite memorable, both tense and empathetic.) 

I agree that the story was certainly worth telling. Come to think of it (the idea just occurred to me), I would be interested in seeing something along these lines in an American context: a white household helping slaves escape along the Underground Railroad, or in defiance of the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, during the antebellum era. I am sure that some people would complain about "white saviors," but the free or freed or escaped blacks who played a pivotal role could also be featured.