Another historical piece is The Zookeeper’s Wife, a drama set in Poland during the era of Nazi occupation in World War II.  Like A United Kingdom, it follows a strong-willed woman through personal and social adversity; unlike that film, it does so with an immediacy that is almost urgent.  The story’s events take years, but from the first dropped bomb the sense of impending doom and disaster is relentless.  The movie is always tense and suspenseful, cautious and harrowing; I cannot even imagine what it must have been like for the real people in that situation.

Niki Caro’s film, based on the non-fiction book by Diane Ackerman, depicts idyllic life at the Warsaw Zoo, disrupted, if not destroyed, by the German invasion of Poland.  With no animals left to tend, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh, Jessica Chastain) strike a deal with the Nazis to breed pigs for their pork supply, then turn their crumbling zoo into a transit hub for Jews to be smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto.  Eventually a prominent Nazi officer, Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), becomes suspicious, but his eyes are clouded by lust for Antonina, and the charade continues.  But not forever.

I found the story to be completely authentic and convincing, from the marital relationship between the Zabinskis to the loyalty that employees felt for the zoo and its operators.  Director Caro does not flinch from depicting Nazi atrocities, but she refrains from exploiting the violence that other directors would have shown as a matter of course.  Rather, the focus is on the constant fear caused by the invasion and how the victims fought to hold on to any dignity they could while being degraded, dispossessed and, finally, disposed of.  That people like the Zabinskis existed, risking their meager livelihood and their very lives, to help others escape the deadly Nazi genocide, is inspiring beyond words.  This movie depicts their courage and selflessness, reminding us all that miracles can occur if someone has the bravery to risk everything.

Even with such a remarkable story — and such beautiful animals — dramatic success is not assured.  Too many movies are obvious, one-dimensional, cliche-ridden parables about good overcoming evil.  This one demonstrates how people survived evil, suffering greatly and expecting execution at any moment.  The film is exciting, dramatic, frightening, sexy, warm, harrowing and, finally, cathartic.  It’s everything that we are, and that we could be.  It’s a great movie.  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆.  14 April 2017.