One Life

UK, 2023, 110 minutes, Colour.

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonathan Pryce, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Adrian Rawlins, Marthe Keller, Alex Sharp, Ziggy Heath, Samantha Spiro.

Directed by James Hawes.

There is great symbolism in the name of this film, British Nicholas Winton, one life and what he achieved.  There is also the symbolism of anyone saving one life and that being an achievement.

In 2000 there was a popular documentary, narrated by Judi Dench, Oscar-winner for Best Documentary, Into The Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, documenting a significant rescue of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939.  The children had been stranded, ousted by the Nazis after the occupation of the Sudetenland, many of their parents destined for the camps.  A group of British helpers and locals, with the connections of Nicholas Winton, a young banker from London, getting the approval of the rabbi and the authorities, organising British passports for the children, adopting families and a financial deposit, were able to save 669 children on train journeys from Prague to London.  With the invasion of Poland in September 1939, many children ready to move, the program halted.

There were several other documentaries on Nicholas Winton and the children, especially the trilogy of films All My Loved Ones (1999), Nicholas Winton – The Power of Good (2002), Nicky’s Family (2011) by Czechoslovakian (born in Bratislava, Slovakia), Matej Minak.

Here is a drama, rather than a documentary, based on the characters and events.  And, as might be expected, the film is a very moving experience.

The framework of the screenplay is the 1980s, the older Nicholas Winton, retired, at home with his wife, expecting a grandchild, clearing the house and destroying some old documents, but finding a significant scrapbook of 1938-1939, photos of the children, newspaper articles, and Winton wanting it to find a significant home.  In this he was aided by several authorities but especially by Robert Maxwell’s wife, articles, television programs.

And, of course, the strength of the film is in Anthony Hopkins’ screen presence and performance, Hopkins performing this role in his mid-80s. Veteran Swedish actress, Lena Olin, plays his wife.

Throughout the film there are strong flashbacks to what actually happened in Prague, versatile actor Johnny Flynn plays the younger Nicholas Winton, a concerned Britain, banker, friends in Prague, visiting, wanting to do something, the locals, including Romola Garai as Doreen and Alex Sharp as Trevor, are initially wary but all work together to identify the children, photograph them, list details, arrange with rather severe bureaucrats in London for passports, find adoptive parents, get financial deposits for the trip and the immediate settlement.

Nicholas Winton was helped by his German-born mother, very supportive and determined, especially in confronting authorities, a fine performance by a vigorous Helena Bonham Carter.

Audiences familiar with Nicholas Winton will have seen footage (available on YouTube) of the famous television program, reviewing Nicholas Winton’s life, where the compere asked anyone in the audience who had been helped by Winton to stand up.  All those in the studio audience stood.  A very moving moment at the time, and now in the film.

One Life is a reminder that there were so many in Europe who shielded and hid Jewish families, many who rescued them, and, as always, lest we forget.

By Fr Peter Malone MSC

Note: Into the Arms of Strangers is available on SBS On Demand.

Published: 15 December 2023