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“One Life” tells of the true actions of heroic London broker Nicholas “Nicky” Winton and others who managed to transport 669 refugee children out of Czechoslovakia into Great Britain at the time when Hitler was about to attack and Britain’s jewish community was getting ready to be annihilated.
In 1938, many families were trying to flee from the capital city of Prague and were barely making ends meet. From reading about it in the news, Winton traveled from England to witness it for himself and was shocked to see families with young children, homeless and starving to death in such appalling conditions that he knew he needed to do something.
The scrapbook detailing every child Winton procured out of Czechoslovakia came to the limelight in January of 1988. Over the years, noone believed that there existed such a scrapbook, only after 50 years of silence did it finally gain the attention it deserved. This is why director James Hawes’s film shifts focus with time frames between 1938/39 to 1987/88.
Most dramatic was its initial appearance on television, where Winton became a guest at the studio for a live production show of “That’s Life,” only to be told that every other individual in the audience was there to thank him for saving them.
I understand that you don’t get to know any of the people really well, only at the surface. While I would have loved to know more everything about our hero, on some level, I feel OK not to because for many of the kids, he was some kind of fascinating savior until 1988. It does not go into the political or the religious motivations; the script simply says you don’t need to be anyone special to be a hero.
Sir Anthony Hopkins delivers his role, as a rather humble Winton, with absolutely no desire for fame from his past actions but rather to use the story decades later to educate people on the plight of refugees. He is also aided by Johnny Flynn (“Emma”) who portrays the younger Winton, completely absorbed in doing the only thing that feels right – which is, when innocent human beings are at risk.
The slow pace and brightness of 1988, showing Winton swimming in his pool and leisurely sifting through years of accumulated records in his study, are complemented with the now darker and chaotic tones of the rush before the impending dive into the Nazis in 1939.
A sort of ought to be British “Schindler’s List” the film is deeply touching and reveals the heartwarming good that man is capable of when placed in the dire circumstances and faces the worst of man.
Similar to the ‘That’s Life’ show in ‘88, ‘One Life’ is a great reminder that despite all of the hatred scattered across the world, good hearts do work tirelessly to improve this earth and combat such negativity.
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