ONE LIFE reviewed by GREG KING
Director: James Hawes
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Jonathan Pryce, Marthe Keller, Ziggy Heath, Tom Glenister.
A stirring and emotional journey, One Life is based on a true story from the early days of WWII that only came to light in 1988 when it featured on an episode of the popular BBC magazine program That’s Life. It tells the hitherto little-known story of Nicholas Winton, who was largely responsible for organizing the rescue of over 600 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in the months before war broke out in 1939.
Winton (played by Johnny Flynn, who played a young Ian Fleming in the WWII drama Operation Mincemeat) was a stockbroker who became a key figure in the Kindertransport which helped evacuate primarily Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied territories at the outbreak of the war. In 1938 Winton, then a stockbroker, went to Prague to help a friend who was working for a refugee organisation.
Winton was horrified at the conditions of the young refugees. He compiled a list of names of Jewish children whose families were refugees from Nazi Germany. But while the British government had agreed in principle to help house the children it declared that it would only accept the unaccompanied minors if they paid a fifty-pound deposit. Together with his formidable mother (Helena Bonham Carter) Winton worked to ensure that they were able to raise the money, provide passports and find homes for the children.
His efforts though remained largely unrecognized for over fifty years. It was only when the older Winton (now played by Anthony Hopkins) began to unclutter his study that memories of these events came flooding back as he paged through old scrapbooks and newspapers working out what to throw out. A notebook detailing his efforts made its way to a noted Holocaust researcher who in turn forwarded it on to the BBC.
The film unfolds in a series of lengthy flashbacks as it seamlessly moves between the two different time frames. One Life is based on the book If It’s Not Possible which was written by Winton’s daughter Barbara. It was adapted to the screen by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl, etc) and Nick Drake (Romulus, My Father, etc), who have taken some liberties with the story for dramatic impact. The movie packs an emotional punch particularly with its climax and it is hard to remain unmoved by this poignant scene.
The film takes its title from the quote “He who saves one life saves the world entire,” and comes across as a sort of British equivalent of Schindler’s List. One Life marks the feature film directorial debut of James Hawes, who hails from a background in television, having worked on series including Black Mirror and Slow Horses. His direction is conventional and without flair, but he brings plenty of tension to those scenes set in Czechoslovakia. The film is nicely shot by cinematographer Zac Nicholson (The Lost King, etc) who effectively uses handheld camera to heighten the tension in these scenes. Christine Moore’s production design is excellent, and the period detail reeks of authenticity. Volker Bertelmann provides the emotional and evocative score.
Hopkins is one of those actors who seems to get better with age. Here he plays the older Winton, and he delivers an understated and empathetic performance as a humble man who never sought recognition for his actions. He also conveys a sense of guilt and regret that he feels that he didn’t do enough to help the refugees. Flynn plays him as a younger man and he manages to capture some of his mannerisms and inflections. Bonham Carter is solid as Winton’s dogged mother who also worked tirelessly to support his efforts. Jonathan Pryce is also very good as Martin Blake, a journalist who wants to share Winton’s story.
★★★☆
