“Checkpoint Zoo” (2024) chronicles how Kharkiv’s Feldman Ecopark, which housed 5000 animals and is thirty kilometers from the Russian border, was caught on the frontlines when Russia invaded the Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The documentary lays out how volunteers and employees took seventy-one days to care for and rescue 4700 animals at the price of six people’s lives. It is a remarkable story, especially if you have experience with animals and have ever tried to take them to the vet in a carrier under the best conditions.
If I was not judging “Checkpoint Zoo” as a nominee for the Special Jury Award at the Salem Film Festival 2025, I would not have watched it. I cannot even watch fictional media if a CGI creature is going to get hurt. As a kid, I loved zoos, but as an adult, I believe it is morally wrong for wild animals to be removed from their natural habitat. This subject is the worst-case scenario: real animals definitely in captivity and danger, many of whom are going to die. Add to the mix watching it soon after President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy visited Presidon’t, Hillbilly Elegy and others who did not have the decency to just snub him but deliberately invited him to Americans’ national home to be publicly rude instead of offering hospitality. After I finished watching the documentary, I was not reduced to a puddle of tears and screams like I was after watching “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (2023) so if you are like me, you will be fine though shaken. While the subject matter is inherently upsetting, director and cowriter Joshua Zeman, whose work I have not seen since “Cropsey” (2009), and cowriter and editor Daniel Lonsbury in his feature debut balanced hammering home how grave the situation was (is?) with knowing when to tastefully stop without pulling emotional punches.
“Checkpoint Zoo” consists of present-day interviews with the volunteers and employees who survived the siege. It also includes footage that they shot during those seventy-one days. They broadcast some of that footage on social media, which elicited practical support to continue their efforts to save the animals so in many ways, they made the film. Vadym Vorotynskyy, the head of media at the park, deserves a promotion and got his hands dirty. The park’s owner, Oleksandr Feldman, who is also a parliament member, made considerable sacrifices while simultaneously suffering disruption in the business that funds this enterprise because of the invasion. Feldman seems to be stuck in that era which the US has left when Americans thought chimpanzees and other wild animals could safely interact with human beings without ripping their face off so who is going to bring him up to speed? He is not going to believe us, but he deserves to know because he is convinced that he has a special bond with them.
Vitalii Ilchenko, the park’s director, acts as the film’s tour guide as he runs down the different sections of the park: the Alpaca Farm, the Monkey House, and the Predator’s Area. He contrasts the logistical scope of maintaining the animals’ well-being before and after, to explain how they were severely short-staffed to maintain people’s safety. The deputy director, Svitlana Vyshenevetska, is still caring for animals, specifically the tapir family, which includes a baby. Andrii Kolesnikov, a father and employee, is called a “crazy person” for his absolute lack of fear and willingness to help animals even if they are not fans. In the melee, some predators kill a long-term employee whom they are familiar with because the sounds of the war are fraying their nerves and destroying their fluffy mental health. Serhii Kolesnikov, a zookeeper for seven years, also managed to continue contributing despite the conditions and heavier workload because he knew the animals were getting think from not eating.
Vitalii Selevin, a volunteer, jumps in because he lives nearby, and his wife, Svitlana Selevina (not to be confused with the deputy director), is an employee. They evacuated simians in their car and escorted them by holding their hands! Remember that these animals could rip arms off. The largest group of volunteers evoke “The Lord of the Rings” hobbit energy of going on an adventure and eager to do good even though they are heading to Mordor. The first volunteer, Tynofii Kharchenko, a veterinarian working on his PhD, is almost turned away, but he just keeps coming back. He recruited his childhood friends and family to follow: Oleksii Husak, Andrii Kharchenko and Yevhen Zubok. Kharchenko, shot a lot of the footage that caught the world’s attention.
“Checkpoint Zoo” depicts safe masculinity. These men weep, feel emotion, protect life, sacrifice their lives and resources for someone who would harm them, and go on adventures that do not inflate their ego, wallet or contacts. The best propaganda is the one that does not feel like it. When contrasted with the Russian soldiers, who rarely appear on screen until the denouement after murdering one of the unarmed volunteers, their strength is functional, flourishing and admirable. In contrast, a facility that housed animals that participated in a petting zoo (porcupines, rabbits, hamsters, foxes) is shot to pieces with all the animals slaughtered, not for food, but enjoyment like budding serial killers leaving the burly Feldman in tears. After watching a documentary like this, ask fellow viewers who they would rather be. The answer should be a no brainer for anyone who is not a sociopath.
Zeman offers soaring overhead shots to show how the former bright and populated area has turned into a warzone. He further fleshes out the story with montages of archival news footage. To flesh out Day 71, the last day of the evacuation, Bild Germany Chief Correspondent Bjorn Dtritzel, reflects exclusively for “Checkpoint Zoo” about his observations of the evacuation. He aptly describes the evacuation as Biblical, which may also explain why the film casts the Ukrainians as the good guys. They are literally being shown doing God’s work while Russians’ fruit is framed as slaughtering tiny woodland creatures, teenagers and unarmed men. The Russians are definitely losing on the cinematic stage and have yet to produce any work that can reverse the Ukrainians’ winning hearts and minds, especially when journalists trying to be objective give in. It is also a great commercial for the other Ukrainian parks.
While this film may be the most conventional of the five movies nominated for the Special Jury Award at the Salem Film Festival 2025, it would not surprise me if it became a crowd favorite. It is a human/animal interest story that is impossible not to relate to. It does not matter that you know how it all ends…for now. “Checkpoint Zoo” is a tense roller coaster of emotions that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering how they pulled it off. It is also a bittersweet testament. Will they, the people and animals of Ukraine, survive without American support? This documentary is only a chapter of an unfinished story.
