Based on a true story, Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) plays a widower, who is sick of people's sympathy and worst of all, sympathy casseroles and lasagnas. He's sick of being called to his son's school, because his teenager has decided to react to his mum's death by being insanely rebellious. 

He uproots his entire family - his fourteen year old son Dylan and seven year old girl Rosie (Elizabeth Jones) to the countryside. More specifically, a zoo. Well, a lovely house in a zoo. 

Meet the staff of the Rosemoor Wildlife Park. Kelly (Scarlett Johansson) is the head zookeeper. 

Tough job. The zoo was closed down and seriously lacking in many aspects. Sick and old animals, mouldy poles, rusty hinges. Benjamin poured himself into work, just so he'll forget about his deceased wife Katherine.

Spar the Tiger was old and ill. Benjamin was faced with the dilemma of putting the tiger out of his misery of forcing him to live. An emotional scene, triggered by his memory of Katherine, ill and fading away..

The love he felt for his wife was tremendous and overwhelming. Matt Damon you have truly outdone yourself in all the late night reminiscing scenes. It was one of those rare You Cry I Cry movie moments. Maybe it was a hormonal imbalance that made me more susceptible the the emotional scenes, but I'll like to think it was because Matt Damon has unparalleled acting skills. That and the fact that this is the kind of story that everyone can relate to. Not the buying a zoo part, but the acute feeling of loss, the kind of desperation that pushes you to do crazy things, the kind of love so strong that having lost it makes life too unbearable. That kind of pain hurts so deep, it's heart-wrenching.

You work so hard during the daytime to runaway from all the memories yet it creeps up on you at night, when you sit idle with no more work to entertain your mind. Everywhere is a memory. Everything is a trigger.
Everything reminds you of the love you once had but lost. It's impossible to run away from it.