This film is not worthy of your time. This is not to say that the subject of "Checkpoint Zoo" is unworthy-far from it. The documentary, from director Joshua Zeman, bravely attempts to shine a light on one of the most heartbreaking and often overlooked casualties of human conflict: the animals. The premise is one of immense promise and inherent drama: a group of dedicated volunteers risking their lives amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine to rescue thousands of animals from a zoo near Kharkiv. You want this film to succeed. You want it to be a testament to compassion in the face of chaos.
But the finished product, I am sorry to report, is a cinematic muddle, a film that fumbles its powerful subject matter with a narrative that is both disjointed and strangely manipulative. Zeman, who has proven his talents with documentaries like "Cropsey" and "The Loneliest Whale," seems to have forgotten a fundamental rule of storytelling: do not exploit your audience's empathy, earn it. The film, in its chaotic, sometimes baffling editing, careens from one harrowing moment to the next, often without giving the viewer a clear emotional anchor. The constant use of raw, shaky camera footage from cell phones and GoPros, while initially effective in conveying the immediacy of the conflict, quickly becomes a crutch, preventing any kind of coherent narrative from taking shape. Instead of a powerful, focused story, we are left with a series of jarring and disconnected clips that fail to build any meaningful tension or emotional arc.
The result is a film that feels less like a tribute to bravery and more like a rushed assembly of tragedy. It is a work that, for all its good intentions, manages to turn a deeply moving and heroic story into a surprisingly hollow experience. It is a shame, for the story of these volunteers deserves to be told with grace, clarity, and the kind of narrative purpose that Zeman's other work has so often possessed. But this film, for all its heart, simply misses the mark. It gets a resounding thumbs down.
