
Who got shot in the zookeepers wife full#
In Spielberg's Amistad (1997), the great white man John Quincy Adams, played by superstar Anthony Hopkins, uses his forensic talents and his crusty, noble heart to rescue a crew full of black Africans.

In A Dry White Season (1989) - by black director Euzhan Palcy - superstar Donald Sutherland plays a South African former sports star who uses his influence and his noble heart to expose the brutalization of black people by the regime. In stories about injustice and violence against people of color, Hollywood (and not just Hollywood) almost always focuses on the iconic #NotAllWhitePeople white person. The gentile savior trope is not new, and it is related to that familiar staple, the white savior. They are mute witnesses to the best of humanity - the best of humanity, here, meaning "gentiles." Collectively, the Jews in the film barely speak. Onscreen, Jews shed a tear here and there they stare admiringly at Chastain they hand her a locket as a token of their esteem and gratitude.
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Jews in this movie are victims they serve as the occasion for virtuous action. And, as in the iconic Holocaust film Schindler's List (1993), the moral triumph of The Zookeeper's Wife is a moral triumph for gentiles. Żabińska was a Polish zookeeper who, along with her husband Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh), helped Jews escape Poland during the Nazi occupation by hiding them in their basement. Whose virtue, though? In the film, directed by Niki Caro and based on the 2007 book by Diane Ackerman, Chastain plays real-life hero Antonina Żabińska. In the fire of violence and hatred, petty concerns are burned away, leaving an irreducible core of virtue. She ends on an inspirational note: In times of suffering, she says, "the best of humanity rises." The Holocaust was a terrible tragedy, this suggests, but also a moral opportunity.

In a close-up, speaking directly to the camera, Chastain compares the rescue of Jews in World War II with the rescue of refugees today. At a preview screening of The Zookeeper's Wife, which opens this weekend, the film opened with a special message from star Jessica Chastain on behalf of the International Rescue Committee.
