Respond to these rapid questions in our The Zookeepers Wife quiz and we will tell you which The Zookeepers Wife character you are. Play it now.
It’s a fantastic — and as yet untold — tale: The Warsaw Zoo was founded by Jan and Antonina Zabinski, a Polish husband and wife zookeeper team who welcomed Jewish refugees after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. They continued to “host” people throughout the occupation, smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto and hiding them in animal cages and basement tunnels leading from their home to the zoo. Given that the German army had commandeered the zoo for use as an armory, this “hiding in plain sight” strategy was extremely risky given the situation at hand. Ackerman, a naturalist author who specializes in animal camouflage techniques, told the story in her book The Zookeeper’s Wife, which weaved together stories of animal camouflage techniques with stories of human survival. Occasionally, the metaphor was overused, but Antonina’s vivid journals (she also wrote a children’s book about animals) served as the thread that tied everything together. Only two of the 300 Jewish “guests” (as the Nazis referred to them) who were hidden in the zoo were apprehended and murdered by the Nazis. The rest of the group made it out alive.
There are many beautiful and moving moments in the film adaptation, which was written and directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”), but it fails to capture the many layers and depths of this unique story, instead opting for straightforward metaphors. The suggestion that they take in Jews is met with laughter by Antonina (Jessica Chastain). “A human zoo,” she describes it as. There are also some fictionalizations that seem to have been lifted directly from the well-known and cliched Nazi-movie playbook. Although brief, the opening sequences are effective in conveying Antonina’s daily routine before the bombs begin to fall. They also demonstrate Antonina’s affinity for animals and her Snow-White-like ability to relate to them on their level. In the elephant yard, she is summoned to assist with a suffocating baby elephant, and she is successful in removing the obstruction from the baby’s trunk while simultaneously calming down the panicked mother elephant. The couple’s villa, which is located on the zoo grounds, is filled with an eccentric menagerie, including badgers and parrots, as well as a pair of baby lynxes who sleep in the same bed as Rys Zabinski (the Polish word for lynx). It’s a paradise on earth.
However, a great deal of information is missing, including the true personalities of these eccentric and tough individuals. Jan’s involvement in the Polish Underground and the Home Army, as well as his weapons caches scattered throughout the city and his long absences, are only vaguely depicted, if at all. At one point, he is shown fighting the Germans, but the scene is handled in such a haphazard manner that it is difficult to tell what is happening. According to the novel, Jan and Antonina kept cyanide pills with them at all times, ready to be used if their secret was discovered. What an enlightening piece of information! Instead of focusing on the less-interesting (and fictionalized) domestic dramas taking place inside the house, Workman chooses to focus on the less-interesting (and fictionalized) domestic dramas taking place outside the house, such as Antonina coaxing a feral Jewish child (raped by Nazi soldiers) to trust her in the same way she coaxed animals to trust her, in case you missed the connection. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” also spends a significant amount of time demonstrating the lengths to which Antonina will go in order to gain the approval of nosy German zookeeper Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl). All of this makes Jan envious of her because she flatters him and flirts with him. It’s a shame that, at some points in the film, the real cliffhanger is whether or not Antonina will sleep with Heck, rather than what will happen to the Jews who are curled up in animal pens.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Zookeepers Wife quiz.
Even when Caro is showing familiar events through a new lens, she is on solid ground. On the day of the invasion, there is a haunting sequence in which the animals in the zoo are aware of what is about to happen before the humans do. The sound suddenly stops working. The tiger is pacing erratically in its cage. The monkeys let out a shriek into the air. A bombing of the Zoo results in animals being released into the city, and Warsaw residents are forced to look out their windows at the bizarre sight of an African camel trotting through the streets, or of a pride of lions prowling through the rubble on the corner. Some of the Polish Underground’s operations, as well as its organization and coordination, are depicted in Caro’s film: the establishment of a forgery room in the back of a bakery, the rituals of dyeing Jewish black hair platinum blonde, the underground railroad of helpful citizens who risk their lives to save their neighbors, the machinations and bribes that allow Jan to enter the Ghetto officially and smuggle people out again: these details are new and specific, and they are frightening
The Zookeepers Wife Quiz
Antonina hangs out with Heck at the zoo, listening to his ramblings about the Nazi’s plans to resurrect the extinct “auroch” as a symbol of German racial purity, and she unbuttons her top button, allowing him to wash her hands near the bison pen while she watches the bison. These sections are forced and unnecessarily complicated. Lutz Heck, the potential rapist-seducer Nazi, is not the main antagonist. The Nazi war machine, as well as the racist ideology that kept it running, are the villains.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Zookeepers Wife quiz.
In Jessica Chastain, you can almost feel the pulse of her heart beating in her throat. She is an actress who quivers with a vulnerability that is palpable. Depending on the situation, she can completely submerge her softness (“Crimson Peak”) or transform that softness into single-minded obsession (“Zero Dark Thirty”) or taut anxiety (“Zero Dark Thirty”) (“Miss Julie”). The fact that she is concerned about her husband’s increasing madness in “Take Shelter” is one of the reasons why Michael Shannon’s performance is so powerful. As well as “The Tree of Life,” which is a celebration of her vulnerability, there is “The Tree of Life.” As Antonina, Chastain, on the other hand, appears to be constrained by her limitations as an actress, her ability to create a character being limited primarily by the demands of doing a Polish accent.
About the quiz
If an actor’s accent is labored and clumsy, the audience does not think, “Wow, I am so involved in this story,” as they might otherwise. They think to themselves, “Oh, look, a famous actor is attempting to impersonate an accent.” Throughout the film, Chastain’s erratic Polish accent draws so much attention to itself that even she seems to be aware of it, speaking in hushed tones or near whispers throughout. The fact that she is surrounded by European actors, all of whom speak English in a variety of accents (and Jan is played by a Flemish actor), makes her attempt even more distracting than it already is.
Also, you must try to play this The Zookeepers Wife quiz.
These are some pretty serious disclaimers, but it’s important to remember that there are many sequences in the film that are absolutely stunning, filled with emotion and tension, fear and pain, and it’s important to remember that there are many sequences in the film that work beautifully (the Warsaw Ghetto scenes are especially terrible, a spectacle of horror). As a stand-alone narrative, the story of the zookeepers who put their lives in danger on numerous occasions throughout the war is incredibly moving and significant.. Many years later, when asked why they had done what they had done, Jan Zabinski responded, “I only did my duty—if you have the opportunity to save someone’s life, it is your responsibility to try.”
For more personality quizzes check this: The Zookeepers Wife Quiz.
