 The Zookeeper's Wife might just be the most female-friendly film to come out in 2017, and here's why. German troops come every morning. You can't make a sound. The Zookeeper's Wife is interesting because it is a period film, and it takes place at such a specific time and place. Everything about this film is inspired by Antonina Zbenska, who was herself both very, very soft and very, very strong. And I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. You can never tell who your enemies are. In a character like Antonina, we see somebody whose love and compassion goes up against the forces of extreme evil and darkness. And it shows me that love is as powerful a force as evil. And this was a wonderful, very new way to tell the story of the Holocaust. I could take your prize animals to Germany as a loan. We give them sanctuary. You know, you can trust my word on this. And when the war is over, I can return them to you. But what if the war comes to Germany? What are some, like, tips or viewpoints or guidelines you can give to young women watching this who want to get into the film business? First and foremost, I'm a director. I'm not a woman director. But, you know, I made a movie and 13 years ago now called North Country with Charlize Theron. You got no business being here and you damn well know it. You're not hearing that, are you? So let's try something new. How about work hard, keep your mouth shut, and take it like a man. And at that time, there were only four of us in that year, which happened to be four percent, and it's not lost on me that 13 years later, the statistic hasn't changed. Femininity has all too often been equated with weakness, and it's anything but. I throw the challenge down to those who hire to get women in the room. How do you feel like this period film relates to now? When we were shooting it in 2015 in Central Europe, the migrant crisis was gaining momentum all around us and all of us working on the movie were having the uncomfortable feeling that what we were making was a lot more contemporary than we thought. Now we get to 2017 and none of us could have predicted where we would be, and how disturbing the parallels are to 1930s Poland, which is the period of time that starts this story. Nikki, where can people see the film and when can people catch the zookeeper's life? People can see the zookeeper's wife all over the country. It's playing now. What have you been up to in your little zoo? If you want to learn more, keep coming back to Hipfix on Uproxx.