"The Zookeeper's Wife" hits the big screen this weekend. It's the true story of Warsaw zoo keepers Jan and Antonina Zabiński.
The Christian couple risked their lives to save more than 300 Jews during World War II by hiding them in cages among the animals.
The film is based on Diane Ackerman's best selling book of the same name, which included personal diary entries from Antonina. Ackerman described the project in a recent interview for the film.
Ackerman said, "Antonina's story had slipped between the seams of history, as radically compassionate stories sometime do -- and especially stories by women. And I could not allow that to happen. She was too important."
Jessica Chastain plays the role of Antonina.
Describing the role, Chastain said, "I was so moved and inspired by Antonina and the empathy she has for other people."
"At the end of the day it's a movie about hope and about family and about love," she added. "What it shows is no matter how dark life can be or how dark it gets, love will always be there and you can find it. And there is something beyond this moment."
Niki Caro directed the film.
Caro said, "Jan and Antonina sheltered Jews in their home, over 300 of them, over the course of the war at great risk to themselves, just because it was the right thing to do."