'' The Zookeeper '' is an independent 2001 drama film directed by Ralph Ziman and starring Sam Neill , Gina McKee , and Ulrich Thomsen . It was screened at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2001 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival . In an unspecified Eastern European country , soldiers round up the inhabitants of a village . Ten year old Zioig ( Javor Loznica ) is separated from his mother Ankica ( Gina McKee ) . While being transported in a truck , Ziog 's father ( Mikulás Kren ) tells his son that he is a man now and that grown men do n't cry . The soldiers kill the men but Zioig manages to escape . Meanwhile in the capital city , a former Interior Ministry official and Communist party member named Ludovic ( Sam Neill ) works at a zoo . He receives a letter from his estranged daughter Anna in Paris who wants to reconcile with her father . With the city under siege , Ludovic volunteers to help the Indian veterinary ( Om Puri ) to look after the animals until they can safely evacuate them . Due to scarce supplies , they are forced to put the animals on rations . Elsewhere , the orphaned Zioig is picked up by a truck carrying United Nations peacekeepers . During the journey , he jumps out of the truck while the peacekeepers are asleep and steals two boxes of supplies . Back in the capital city , Ludovic encounters the militia leader Dragov ( Ulrich Thomsen ) at a checkpoint . Despite lacking identity papers , Dragov lets him through because they are of the same race . Ludovic moves into the zoo and helps the veterinary to look after the animals . Ludovic develops an attachment to a female gibbon named " Luisa . " While visiting the wolves ' pen , Ludovic encounters the orphaned Zioig and tells the boy to leave . Amidst the fighting , Ludovic befriends the Vet while drinking . The Vet tells Ludovic that good men do the right thing in bad times . The following morning , Dragov and his militia visit the zoo and arrests the Vet because he is of a different race . When Ludovic protests , Dragov replies that they will let him go if he is innocent . Ludovic is forced to look after the animals alone . The following morning , Ludovic buries a dead man he finds strung up outside . Later , Zioig returns and forces his way into Ludovic 's cabin with a gun . When the boy faints , Ludovic takes pity on him and tends to the boy 's leg wound with antibiotics . After feeding Zioig , Ludovic tells him that he has to leave the next day because his presence would endanger him . Zioig complies but later returns with a woman , who identifies herself as Zioig ’s mother Ankica . Taking pity on them , Ludovic decides to allow Zioig and his mother to stay . After a blood-stained Zioig returns with cigarettes taken from a man he purportedly found dead , Ankica confides in Ludovic that she is losing touch with her son . While at the zoo ’s butchery , Ankica recounts her experiences in a prison camp where she was raped by a guard who used to be her neighbor . Ankica also begs Ludovic to be kind to her son in order to help him . While Ludovic spends time with Zioig , Ankica reads through Ludovic 's diaries . When Dragov and his militia return to seize the farm animals for food , Ludovic hides Ankica inside a barn . While Dragov and one of his men Slavko ( Srdjan Simeonovich ) search the barn , Ludovic distracts them by giving them a lion cub as a mascot . After the militiamen leave , Ankica kisses Ludovic out of gratitude . Ludovic comforts the distraught Zioig , who is troubled by the suffering zoo animals . When Ludovic discovers that Ankica has been reading through his diaries , he angrily orders them to leave . Zioig storms out in a fit of rage . Ludovic and Ankica eventually discover that her son has gunned down the militiaman Slavko . Ankica searches for her son but he avoids her . Returning to the cabin , Ankica and Ludovic reconcile and develop feelings for each other . The following morning , Ludovic feeds the body of the militiaman to a lion . That night , the zoo 's monkey house is hit by artillery . Ludovic tries to rescue the monkeys but they succumb to the flames , smoke , and trauma . After some argument , Ankica convinces Ludovic to leave the zoo with her and her son . Later , Ludovic and Ankica comfort Zioig as he mourns over a wolf killed during the bombardment . Mother and son reconcile while Ludovic imparts fatherly advice to Zioig that grown men do cry . The following morning , Ludovic farewells the animals and prepares to leave the zoo with Zioig and Ankica . However , Ankica is killed by one of Dragov ’s snipers . Ludovic tends to her while Dragov and his militia drive away from the city . As UN peacekeepers enter the city and evacuate the animals , Ludovic and Zioig bury Ankica . They then depart the zoo with the orphaned wolf cub
2001 Toronto International Film Festival
2001 Toronto International Film Festival
The Zookeeper (2001 film)