Now showing in repertory cinemas and as part of Odeon’s Silver Screen selection, this wartime set film based on true events was released earlier this year. It seems like the sort of film that would be an awards contender but it came and went with very little recognition.
Jessica Chastain plays Antonina Zabinska, the eponymous wife of Jan (Johan Heldenbergh). We first see her in 1939 cycling through Warsaw Zoo, greeting the animals in an idyllic scene. She seems to be living a perfectly blissful life, but of course, that all comes to an end on 1 September that year with the invasion by the German army. With a lot of their animals already killed, the Zabinskas agree for most of the remainder to be relocated to a zoo in Munich run by Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl), who they were friendly with before the war. When the Jews living in Warsaw start to be rounded up, they decide to hide one of their friends. That leads them agreeing to give temporary refuge to other fleeing Jewish people until they can be found a permanent safe house.
I found some of the early scenes incredibly hard to watch, as the death of a lot of the creatures living in the zoo is shown in graphic detail. I suppose, as the focus moved onto suffering humans I should have found that depiction even more horrific.
That I failed to emotionally engage with their plight could say something about me, but it was only a few weeks ago that Another Mothers Son, another film about hiding people from the Germans, so affecting. Instead, I think the fault may lie with Angela Workman’s screenplay. Reportedly edited down from three and a half hours to the two hours product, it never built up the suspense required, with the peril of the Zabinskas’ situation downplayed.
Chastain is good enough in the title role, though the use of an American actress speaking in English with an accent rather than a native Pole was probably not the best choice. Brühl is sufficiently chilling as the despicable Nazi, and Heldenbergh adds some humanity in his role.
In the end, this is efficiently enough told by director Niki Caro but it is not as powerful as it should have been.
Rating: 6 out of 10