In a production based on a non-fiction book by Diane Ackerman, a brilliantly specific story has been reduced to conventional drama and synthetic heroics. The Zookeeper's Wife takes on much more than it can handle with any focus, clarity or narrative logic — the fate of the animals; the fate of the Jews in hiding (most of whom are generic presences rather than individuals); the Warsaw uprising as the Nazis' hold on the city weakens.
