I have mixed feelings about this movie. I wish I could write a really positive comment on it, because it has a great theme of human love and kindness. But there are few flaws which really hurt the movie that would otherwise have made it a great movie.
First of all, the strength of love and kindness shown not only towards humans but also to animals is very powerfully shown. That is the strongest trademark of the movie. The immense risk taken by both wife and husband, Antonina and Jan to protect some Jews is depicted fairly strong in the story line. A powerful theme of empathy towards those hiding in the basement has worked out well. Jessica Chastain doing the role of Antonina is clearly the winner of the best character here. She lives in her character like a fish in the water and stands tall among other actors. How she handles the romantic advancements of Lutz while not antagonizing him in order to hide the secrets and safeguard the basement refugees is exemplary. Johan acting as Jan is doing a great job too. His character is a strong pillar to Antonina's character building.
However there were some flaws. Losing momentum in some scenes and characters where the flow becomes faulty and with some voids. Basically it's a problem within the script, so the script writer has not done a proper job. I also attribute those to poor editing and directing rather than to acting. Many times, particularly in the last 30 – 40 minutes, the connection between the scenes was very weak. Scenes changed quite abruptly, not linking to the next frame thus losing the momentum. For e.g. how did Jan got involved with an underground group to fight with Nazis was not clear and the sequences leading to that was not shown at all. Whether Antonina knew about it or not, is rather confusing too. Also, how some workers still remaining in the zoo amidst so much of war chaos and Nazi bombing and invasions has not been created credibly. Given the ruthlessness of Nazis, the lackluster attitude of Lutz towards Antonina and her family when he found the secrets is very questionable. And when Jan confronts Antonina with a suspicion of an affair between she and Lutz, her reactions were not credible, because she didn't really wanted to be Lutz's secret lover. Yet she doesn't tell it to Jan strong enough, except in a flash. And how the couple afforded to feed hundreds of people in a secret tunnel is a big question very badly unanswered!
Yet with all that, I find the movie a positive one.You get excellent acting by almost everyone. Needless to re-iterate how well Jessica, Johan and Daniel do their jobs. Music is serene and allure, that captures the poignant setting of the era. Cinematography is one of the best I've seen recently. The chaos of the zoo after the Nazi bombing has been captured brilliantly where the animals were running amok all over the city. Those few minutes must been a real challenge to film, with real animals, but both director Caro and cameraman Andrij have done a great job there.
It is not a great movie. It is not a perfect movie. But it is a movie that enhance and re-affirm your faith in humanity. Strengthen your belief that humans are the most valuable thing on earth. Antonina and Jan shows us that no matter what happens to their life, when it comes to saving a human life, they would do it. And they did save as many lives as they could. That is what inspires me most about this movie.
First of all, the strength of love and kindness shown not only towards humans but also to animals is very powerfully shown. That is the strongest trademark of the movie. The immense risk taken by both wife and husband, Antonina and Jan to protect some Jews is depicted fairly strong in the story line. A powerful theme of empathy towards those hiding in the basement has worked out well. Jessica Chastain doing the role of Antonina is clearly the winner of the best character here. She lives in her character like a fish in the water and stands tall among other actors. How she handles the romantic advancements of Lutz while not antagonizing him in order to hide the secrets and safeguard the basement refugees is exemplary. Johan acting as Jan is doing a great job too. His character is a strong pillar to Antonina's character building.
However there were some flaws. Losing momentum in some scenes and characters where the flow becomes faulty and with some voids. Basically it's a problem within the script, so the script writer has not done a proper job. I also attribute those to poor editing and directing rather than to acting. Many times, particularly in the last 30 – 40 minutes, the connection between the scenes was very weak. Scenes changed quite abruptly, not linking to the next frame thus losing the momentum. For e.g. how did Jan got involved with an underground group to fight with Nazis was not clear and the sequences leading to that was not shown at all. Whether Antonina knew about it or not, is rather confusing too. Also, how some workers still remaining in the zoo amidst so much of war chaos and Nazi bombing and invasions has not been created credibly. Given the ruthlessness of Nazis, the lackluster attitude of Lutz towards Antonina and her family when he found the secrets is very questionable. And when Jan confronts Antonina with a suspicion of an affair between she and Lutz, her reactions were not credible, because she didn't really wanted to be Lutz's secret lover. Yet she doesn't tell it to Jan strong enough, except in a flash. And how the couple afforded to feed hundreds of people in a secret tunnel is a big question very badly unanswered!
Yet with all that, I find the movie a positive one.You get excellent acting by almost everyone. Needless to re-iterate how well Jessica, Johan and Daniel do their jobs. Music is serene and allure, that captures the poignant setting of the era. Cinematography is one of the best I've seen recently. The chaos of the zoo after the Nazi bombing has been captured brilliantly where the animals were running amok all over the city. Those few minutes must been a real challenge to film, with real animals, but both director Caro and cameraman Andrij have done a great job there.
It is not a great movie. It is not a perfect movie. But it is a movie that enhance and re-affirm your faith in humanity. Strengthen your belief that humans are the most valuable thing on earth. Antonina and Jan shows us that no matter what happens to their life, when it comes to saving a human life, they would do it. And they did save as many lives as they could. That is what inspires me most about this movie.