Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The Movie Diorama Another saturated topic, we typically get two or three WWII films a year. Frustratingly, this is another typical holocaust film and one that will not standout against the packed crowd. In saying that though, this is an excellent "story" film to which I was fully immersed. A factual fictionalisation of the Warsaw Zoo surviving WWII where both animals and humans are in danger. The owners soon start to hide Jewish residents within the zoo in an attempt to save their lives from the Nazi holocaust. I expected a film about zookeepers and nearby residents saving animals from Nazi capture, boy was I completely wrong. The zoo animals only take precedent during the first fifteen minutes, and then the narrative's focus is purely on the owners, Jews and the Nazi regime. Soul draining is how I would describe this. It's bleak, depressing and not an ounce of happiness until the last five minutes. Director Niki Caro captures the horror of the holocaust and does not shy away from the brutality of it. She evokes powerful imagery that isn't portrayed in the film, we see a young girl being taken into a tunnel by two Nazi soldiers. We don't see what happens, but the detail in every scene enables us to imagine the terror that unfolded. Another synonymous scene would be when Jewish children are carried onto a train. We know where it's going, but the story never informs us. It's subliminal, and that might be due to the over saturation of this genre. Jessica Chastain stars as the eponymous character in what is one of her more nuanced performances, but emotionally vulnerable. When she cries, my God I feel it. Daniel Brühl was also captivating as the Nazi zoologist. Would I have liked the focus to be strictly on the zoo animals? Yes. It would've been different, less generic and perhaps more emotive. Can I complain about what was presented instead? No. A perfectly good WWII drama that is harrowingly depressing which will not set the cinematic world alight.

Michael O'Keefe After Hitler's Luftwaffe bombings of Poland's capital, Warsaw; caretakers Jan Zabinkski (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) turn their zoo into a different kind of sanctuary. While the Nazi' occupation is rounding up Jews to be taken away to be beaten and murdered; the zookeeper's wife works with a high ranking Nazi to protect the zoo animals. At the same time, Antonina and her husband work with the Resistance in an effort to hide Jews from the wartime carnage. Disturbing scenes of destruction, people and animals being shot; implied rape scene along with brutal battles, bombing and horrific explosions relate the drama of this true story. Compassion and courage against tremendous odds shows inspiration. Overview of the remaining cast: Daniel Bruhl, Frederick Preston, Michael McElhatton, Shira Haas, Timothy Radford and Efrat Dor.

alindsay-al This film has a very interesting back story so I was interested in watching it and I have now seen it and unfortunately though not terrible this film is incredibly forgettable. The premise of the film is based on a true story that sees a couple hide Jewish refugees in there zoo from the nazis. Jessica chastain plays the lead in the film and this isn't one of her best performances, she is clearly passionate about the role and she does her best with what she is given. But she overacts all the way through this movie and she feels very wooden and not real at all. Her emotional scenes usually come across as forced and very much like it is a script and not her if that makes sense. The supporting cast is a mixed bag, I liked the actor who plays her husband I thought he gave the best performance in the film but even he starts to overact towards the end of the film. Daniel bruhl is in this film and he does a decent job especially at the beginning of the film but as the film progresses his character becomes as cliché as you can get. Nobody else in the film gets any important screen time so when the film asks you to care you just don't which hurts the film. As mentioned before the story has an interesting concept and It is a bit interesting to watch and wonder how these people did what they did. But there are so many problems, there are aspects of the film that aren't expanded on enough and aspects that are focused on too much. It is a highly predictable film which doesn't give any surprises at all. The script has some decent drama with some particularly uncomfortable scenes that work well. Though there is absolutely no humour or life in this film even when these people are meant to be happy it just feels unreal. The style of the film looks good with the sets and animals especially coming across well, but this films pacing is really poor and just feels boring. Also this film has a really confusing way of showing time and how much has passed and it made it hard to follow. Overall this film isn't that bad it just is really forgettable and not worth a watch as you won't remember it.

tubaman-8 I don't usually write reviews, but I saw this movie last night and after reading some of the reviews on this page I had to respond. This movie apparently brought out the Nazi apologists who found it necessary to write reviews about how the Nazis "weren't that bad" and why do movies keep depicting them that way. These revisionists need to be called out for what they are, white supremacists.This movie tells the true story about a family that used their zoo to rescue 300 Jews from death in the Warsaw Ghetto or ultimately death in a death camp, which is what happened to most of the people who survived the ghetto before it was burned down. These revisionists are trying to say that the Nazis weren't that bad, but I was on the board of directors of the Holocaust Center of Central Florida in the mid 90s and knew a number of holocaust survivors quite well. Their stories if anything make the events portrayed in this film somewhat tame in comparison. The Nazis should have been portrayed as even more callous and evil to be accurate. As for the movie, I did find that it wasn't the most effective telling of this true story. A number of embellishments were made to the story, I assume for dramatic effect, but many of them just didn't work. To me some of them made what was already an incredible story become completely implausible. I'm not going into detail so as not to give out any spoilers, but I suggest that people should read the book if they want to know the real heroism of this couple. I also found the dialog somewhat stilted at times and the story presented in a somewhat disjointed way.Still, the movie provides another reminder of the evil that was Nazi Germany and how there were people who heroically risked their lives to try to fight back against it. I may have liked it more if I hadn't already known the story and read the book, but overall I found it to be a good, if not great movie.