In tallying up the casualties of war, there’s seldom a thought for the animal kingdom beyond our own two-legged species. It’s assumed that Mother Nature will simply “adapt,” her less-evolved populations abandoning old habitats and finding new ones on their own when forced. “Checkpoint Zoo” trains its lens on 5,000 or so beasts who didn’t have that option — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine left them trapped in cages or pens on a no man’s land between enemy forces, terrorized and sometimes killed by missile strikes.
Joshua Zeman’s documentary chronicles the courageous efforts to save them, first from starvation, then via transport to new homes. There’s no lack of suspense, human interest or unique animal footage in this engrossing feature, whose broad appeal should ensure wide exposure — at least among allied nations.
Wealthy businessman Oleksandr Feldman founded Feldman Ecopark outside his native Kharkiv to share a love of animals with the public. In addition to its separate viewing environments (Alpaca Farm, Monkey House, Predators’ Area, etc.), there were programs targeting special needs children, youth education, animal-assisted mental health therapy and more.
All that ended on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia commenced what’s called here “the largest European invasion since the Cold War.” While ideally situated for easy access from the city in peacetime, the Ecopark turned out to be in exactly the wrong place amid armed conflict. It was even closer to the Russian border than Kharkiv, so the surprise initial attack found it in the path of heavy artillery launches. There was immediate major damage and an emergency staff evacuation. Invading enemy troops were repelled once Ukrainian forces began fighting back. But now the site was in a dangerous “gray zone” vulnerable to hits from both sides, where explosives might land by accident or design.
By the time anyone dared return — at great personal risk — the park’s permanent denizens hadn’t been fed in a week, and were further traumatized by ongoing bombardments. Heat, water and electricity had been cut off in mid-winter. With the city and surrounding communities devastated by air assault, so many fled the area that only about 10% of the facility’s employees remained. A week in, two among them came face-to-face with Russian soldiers and were unceremoniously shot to death.
This dire situation attracted the attention of Tymofii Kharchenko, a young veterinarian still working toward his Ph.D. He drafted several peer friends dubbed “The Boys” into volunteer efforts that greatly alleviated the desperately overstretched staff. The energy this lot brings is infectious, the recklessness of youth perhaps necessary for work so dangerous that one veteran worker gets killed by an agitated lion he’d been feeding for years.
The animals are nervous, exhausted, aggressive and bewildered by this alarming change to their routine. When the Monkey House roof is destroyed during shelling, some of its residents perish from heart attacks. Tame animals in a petting-zoo area get their enclosures shot up by Russian troops, just for fun. Other species are located in areas perilously close to enemy lines, nearly starving to death before they can be accessed.
An air strike hits the compound for the big cats, and it is a miracle that none escape into the surrounding countryside. It is now clear, however, that means must be found for total evacuation, though the funds, manpower and equipment needed for that are nowhere in sight. Oleksandr and the institution’s media chief Vadym Vorotynskyy ask “the whole world for help,” much assisted by The Boys’ videos of at-risk tapirs, zebras, camels, bears, marabous, et al. In the end, more than 10,000 people and organizations supplied means for some 4,700 animals’ successful transportation to new homes in at least temporarily safer areas.
Early on, “Checkpoint Zoo” includes a fair amount of footage quite likely shot well after the events depicted — not just interviews but sweeping drone views, gorgeous critter close-ups, etc. Any question of slick craftsmanship overriding reportage, however, gets quickly overridden by hair-raising sequences in which camera phones record efforts right in the middle of aerial onslaughts. The Russians seem aware whenever any staff or volunteers arrive in the park, invariably commencing artillery a few minutes later.
The antic good humor with which those humans under attack cope is admirable, but we’re reminded this is no joke when one employee’s visiting teenage son is killed. As Russian POWs are taken prisoner shortly thereafter, we also briefly witness the very real enmity between an invaded people and the agents of their distress.
Some endearing personalities and moments leaven the more nerve-wracking episodes. Particularly appealing is Andrii, a gentle giant who found his niche working with animals after years of homelessness and addiction. There are inherently comical scenes where the founder’s quite lordly house full of collected valuables becomes a “Noah’s Ark” for evacuated creatures, complete with one caracal (a winsome-looking wild cat) surprised in a late-night bathroom.
Then there’s the delight in seeing kangaroos dragged involuntarily to safety by their tails, obstinate goats slung over human shoulders, unexpectedly cuddly tapirs, sedated leopards, an ostrich chased into a rescue truck, etc. But the cuteness factor is certainly mediated by bits like the one in which one keeper notes it’s hard to teach an animal not to trigger a landmine.
Given a bit of a celebrity boost by Leonardo DiCaprio’s name among executive producers, “Checkpoint Zoo” wisely avoids wading into political rhetoric or anything else much outside its narrow storytelling focus, despite occasional glimpses of foreign TV news broadcasts. A prolific producer whose prior directorial projects were largely in a true-crime vein, Zeman brings considerable polish as well as suspense to this exercise in more urgent, you-are-there documentary narrative.
