A generic wartime tale of tears and triumph
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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.
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