--- title: 'The Zookeeper's Wife' Review: A Series of Acts of Bravery description: Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh depict acts of bravery in the Warsaw ghetto during the invasion of Poland in 'The Zookeeper's Wife.' canonical: https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/ author: Stephanie Zacharek article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-30T10:39:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:06:33.640Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'The Zookeeper's Wife' Review: A Series of Acts of Bravery og:description: Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh depict acts of bravery in the Warsaw ghetto during the invasion of Poland in 'The Zookeeper's Wife.' og:url: https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae13efda8bee389b/6988c07b97cdffbcd16b0004/zookeepers-wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Zookeepers-Wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Zookeeper's Wife' Review: A Series of Acts of Bravery twitter:description: Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh depict acts of bravery in the Warsaw ghetto during the invasion of Poland in 'The Zookeeper's Wife.' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae13efda8bee389b/6988c07b97cdffbcd16b0004/zookeepers-wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Radiant Jessica Chastain Helps _The Zookeeper’s Wife_ Shine  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Mar 30, 2017 10:39 AM UTC  Focus Features  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Mar 30, 2017 10:39 AM UTC _The Zookeeper’s Wife_ may be based on a true story–as recounted in Diane Ackerman’s 2007 book of the same name–but at heart, it’s all movie. That’s both good and bad. Jessica Chastain plays Antonina Zabinski, who, with her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh), saved more than 300 Jewish residents of the Warsaw ghetto during the German invasion of Poland. In better times, the couple had run the Warsaw Zoo, a vibrant place filled with healthy, well-loved animals. When the Nazis moved in, the Zabinskis fought back. Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider; McFarland, USA) depicts their bravery as simple human decency, a series of small gestures that never aspire to greatness. But deeply earnest pictures aren’t always great ones, and this movie’s plot mechanics sometimes grind it down. The actors, at least, keep it breathing. Heldenbergh’s face has the gravity of a solid, steady heartbeat. And Chastain is so radiant, it’s as if her character has somehow captured and retained light to be dispersed gradually in darker times. That’s a kind of bravery too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/"},"headline":"A Radiant Jessica Chastain Helps The Zookeeper’s Wife Shine","datePublished":"2017-03-30T10:39:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:06:33.640Z","description":"Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh depict acts of bravery in the Warsaw ghetto during the invasion of Poland in 'The Zookeeper's Wife.'","url":"https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae13efda8bee389b/6988c07b97cdffbcd16b0004/zookeepers-wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae13efda8bee389b/6988c07b97cdffbcd16b0004/zookeepers-wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Zookeepers-Wife-bravery-in-a-whisper-movie-review","caption":"","creditText":"Focus Features","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4718005/the-zookeepers-wife-review/","name":"A Radiant Jessica Chastain Helps The Zookeeper’s Wife Shine"}}]}] ```