IN 1939 Poland, the Warsaw Zoo flourishes under the stewardship of Dr Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain). A lion cub naps in their young son's bed; Antonina feeds apples to hippos on her morning rounds, chased by a baby camel.

The idyll is shattered in an instant by the German invasion. The couple must henceforth report to "Hitler's head zoologist" Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl), a former colleague, transferred over from the Berlin Zoo, who has plans for a eugenics breeding programme and the hots for Antonina.

The Zookeeper's Wife is the true account of the Zabinskis' daring act of subterfuge, converting their now-abandoned zoo into a pig farm as a front for hiding Warsaw Ghetto's Jews in the cages and tunnels and then, ultimately, smuggling the fugitives to freedom.