The Zookeeper

Sam Neill's "The Zookeeper" follows the story of one man who's life is thrown into chaos as a brutal civil war overtakes his zoo. Gina McKee is excellent as a woman struggling to make sense of her changing world. A tender love story in the most unlikely surroundings. I cried a lot.

Screenplay writer Matthew Bishop and co-writer/director Ralph Ziman's independently produced 'The Zookeeper' is unfairly, mostly unknown. It features above-average production values and an unusual but interesting performance by Sam Neil. Neil plays an ex-communist party member who has denounced the party and hidden himself away as an attendant in an unspecified Eastern European Zoo. Filmed on location in the Czech Republic, it tells a story that will have all too often unfolded within many war-torn European communities - where communist troops arrive and exert their control.

The emotionally challenged Zookeeper tends his animal charges alone - while attempting to remain neutral of the war raging around his unique boundaries. This won't be easy as there are others also wanting to escape the outside trauma - these come in the form of a young boy and one of his parents. The internationally sourced budget includes many well-executed scenes involving explosions and it's all expertly captured on film by prize-winning Polish cinematographer Piotr Kuklar.

There's also an effective music score by Nikolaj Egelund, supplying a haunting soundscape within the eerie shut-down zoological grounds. Popular American wildlife trainer Steve Martin (Water For Elephants '11) acted as head trainer for all the zoo animals. Acclaimed Indian actor Om Puri (Ghost and the Darkness) also appears as the vet.

The Beyond DVD offers good image and sound - this is a film deserving of better public recognition.

Intriguing, well made, movie with pretty incredible animal footage. However, two things would have made it much better. One, more details on the background of the Sam Neil character. What made him the way he was? What in his background made him so private and initially unfriendly? Not well developed.

Also, the decision on how the movie ended with an unexpected loss was very perplexing. Didn't make sense or explained how it happened. No one was around! The direction the movie makers decided to go was a poor one.

The film is beautiful, moving and sensitive with a subtlety not often displayed these days. Moving performances from Sam Neill, Gina McKee and Javor Loznica. This film has a resonance that stays with you for days. Perhaps it's the images of caged animals terrified by falling bombs, or perhaps it's Sam Neill's haunting performance. He plays a man at war with himself within the confines of a zoo.

Last year (2016) I happened to see Sam Neill in 3 different vehicles, and he was awesome in all: Peaky Blinders, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and The Zookeeper. I would be hard-pressed to say which I liked better, or which he was better in. Suffice to say, his stature as an actor took a quantum leap in my estimation. I highly recommend all three, although Peaky Blinders is quite violent, and also an ongoing mini-series with the attendant time commitment (Come on, Season Four!!) The Zookeeper is heartbreaking, and I wept for humans and animals alike.