L ifestyle /C ulture
Clumsy Documentary Tells Fascinating Story
FI L M
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE MANAGING EDITOR
THERE’S NO SHORTAGE
of interesting material in “Of
Animals and Men,” a Polish
documentary about Jan
and Antonina Żabiński, the
Catholic Warsaw zookeepers
credited with sheltering about
300 Jews during World War II.

Their story was detailed
capably in 2017’s “The
Zookeeper’s Wife,” which
starred Jessica Chastain, but
this documentary directed
by Łukasz Czajka misses the
mark. While it does tell all the
salient parts of a fascinating
story, the poor organization, a
lack of accompanying informa-
tion and ham-handed editing
make this feel like a film school
project. For example, at the begin-
ning of the film, which is
dubbed in English, viewers are
presented with footage from
inside the Żabiński family
home at the zoo. The parents
and two children are sleeping
in a room, while turtles, a
bird, a hedgehog and an otter
gambol about.

Cool stuff, but the narration
at the time is describing the
family’s origin at the zoo —
while the footage is from after
the war, which isn’t apparent
until much later in the film.

Nor is there any explanation
of who shot the film or, for
that matter, who is narrating.

(The press materials say it’s
Antonina Żabiński, who died
in 1971, so apparently it’s from
an archival interview).

Daughter Teresa Żabińska-
Zawadzki, who died earlier
this year, is also interviewed
on camera at several points,
but there’s never a graphic
identifying her. Viewers will
think they know who it is, but
it’s not clear for a while. Her
narration meanders at times,
too. Granted, it’s fine for her to
reminisce, but tighter editing
would have kept her on point
22 JUNE 17, 2021
more often.

The lack of identification
happens throughout the film.

Moshe Tirosh, who hid at
the zoo with his family while
a small boy, offers gripping
details about his time there, yet
we never learn his name — it
seems like that identification is
something taught in documen-
tary filmmaking 101.

There also are suspect juxta-
positions, such as footage of
bombs dropping and the zoo
animals being startled. Given
the other shoddy editing, it’s
not clear if the animals are
being upset by the bombings,
or if it’s just random footage
of lions roaring and monkeys
screeching, interspersed with
newsreel footage.

So, after all that, is “Of
Animals and Men” worth
watching? If you’ve seen “The
Zookeeper’s Wife,” which
presents the events fairly faith-
fully, there’s probably no need
to see this. But if you haven’t
— or you want to go deeper —
this may be worth a watch and,
at 70 minutes, it covers a lot of
ground briskly.

For those who don’t know
the background, Jan Żabiński,
who was a zoologist, and
his wife Antonina, a writer,
co-founded the Warsaw
Zoo in 1929, and he served
as its director until Germany
invaded Poland in 1939. The
bombings kill many of the zoo
animals and others are taken
away by the Nazis.

The Nazis appointed him
superintendent of public
parks, which proved important
because it gave him access
to the Warsaw Ghetto. The
Żabińskis begin to help their
Jewish friends immediately,
providing escape routes, along
with shelter within the empty
animal cages at the zoo, as well
as the family home.

Often the stays were tempo-
rary until the Jews found refuge
elsewhere, but the Żabińskis
are credited with saving about
A camel is led through the streets of Warsaw to the Warsaw Zoo.

300 Jews.

In 1944, Jan Żabiński joined
the Warsaw Polish Uprising,
was injured and taken prisoner
by Germany, leaving Antonina
Żabiński to continue his work.

After the war, Jan Żabiński
resumed his role heading the
zoo, a role he maintained into
the 1950s when he resigned
after clashing with Communist
overlords. In 1965, the Żabińskis
received the Righteous Among
the Nations award, and a
tree-planting ceremony in
their honor was held at Yad
Vashem three years later.

As scattered as it might
be, “Of Animals and Men”
does capture the extent of the
family’s humanity.

And there are plenty of
interesting tidbits, such as one
survivor living in the family’s
basement describing how
Antonina Żabiński warned
when there was danger by
playing “La Belle Hélène (The
Beautiful Helen)” by Jacques
Offenbach, and performing the
work of Frédéric Chopin when
it was safe again. Another
detailed a failed attempt to dye
their hair blonde.

Tirosh describes how those
in hiding were kept separate
from each other — by design.

That way, if one person or
family was captured, they
couldn’t be forced to give up
the others — others they didn’t
know about.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Antonina Żabiński often played specific pieces on the piano to warn those
hiding in the house of possible dangers.

Teresa Żabińska-Zawadzki, who died earlier this year, was the daughter of
Jan and Antonina Żabiński.
Courtesy of Outsider Pictures
“Of Animals and Men”
wraps up on a hopeful note, but
the short run time afforded the
possibility for someone other
than Żabiński-Zawadzki, who
was born in 1943 and, thus,
would have no direct recollec-
tions of what happened during
the war, to reflect on the lasting
impact of what her parents
accomplished. Fathom Events is presenting
“Of Animals and Men” on June
22. See fathomevents.com/
events/Of-Animals-And-Men for details on theaters and
show times. l
agotlieb@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0797
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM