THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE: Jessica Chastain is the title character in this story of a woman who, with the help of her husband (Johan Heldenbergh) rescued hundreds of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. In a supporting role, Daniel Bruhl plays a Nazi zoologist with ulterior motives and he is excellent. And while I have mixed feelings, since there have been numerous similar tales (most notably Spielberg's "Schindler's List), this film does has some flaws. First off, we seem to care more about the animals than the Jews in the first part of the movie so we get a gloss that feels almost like Disney meets the holocaust. On the plus side, it is filmed beautifully, but it never quite achieves the horror of what ungodly acts were committed at the time. (There are a few jolts along the way but they pale in comparison.) Perhaps the film makers knew that we knew the back story and didn't want to dwell on it. Summing it up, at the end, it is still very uplifting and a testament to the human spirit but based upon real life, I'd hoped for better.
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