Spoilerpiece Theatre Episode 142: The Zookeeper’s Wife

“Spoilerpiece Theatre” is a weekly movie podcast where I talk about new releases with fellow BOFCA critics Dave Riedel and Kris Jenson. We don’t give a shit about spoilers. We just want to talk about the movies.

In Episode 142 below, we review The Zookeeper’s Wife and talk about the Boston Underground Film Festival. A sing-along of songs from camp veers into unexpected territory for us this week. Before we get into any movies though, we turn our attention to television, as I explain my mad quest to watch as many X-Files episodes as possible for before the show leaves Netflix streaming. After that Kris recaps his time at the Boston Underground Film Festival aka BUFF (at 9:14), where he highlights a number of notable films including Prevenge, Dark Song, Buster’s Mal Heart, She’s Allergic to Cats, The Void, and Dave Made a Maze. Lastly, we tackle The Zookeeper’s Wife (at 20:00), a movie about a couple played by Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh who smuggle Jews in Poland to safety during the Holocaust, which does all the things you’ve seen before and wraps them in a story you haven’t. We compare the film to others about the Holocaust like Schindler’s List, and are disappointed with familiar aspects of those pictures that seep into this movie, but we still laud its moving performances and excellent cast.