One Life

An understated tale of heroism is all the more moving for its protagonist’s humility.

The contents of James Hawes’ period drama would be unthinkable were it not so resonant of events happening today. Set in 1938 and in 1987, it tells of the horrors of children forced to flee their own country and from everything they hold dear. Yet even as they face starvation and an inhospitable winter, figures in authority question the rationale of tearing these young people away from their own religion. However, it was not God who came to the rescue of countless Jewish children awaiting Hitler’s death camps, but an unassuming stockbroker from Maidenhead. Just as evil seldom reveals its true face, so heroism comes in the most unexpected packages.

We first meet Nicholas Winton in the form of a somewhat doddery Anthony Hopkins, armed with his characteristic, dismissive little laugh, preparing to throw out the memorabilia and clutter of a past life, to make way for the arrival of his imminent grandchild. It’s a painful process to incinerate all the boxes and files that once meant so much to him. However, there is one remnant of his war years that he is determined to save from the flames. It is a ledger of documentation, of names and photographs of the children he encountered in Czechoslovakia on the cusp of the Nazi invasion of Prague. And as the elderly Winton reluctantly tackles the chore of erasing his past, the film deftly cuts to London in 1938 where we meet the younger Winton, as played by Johnny Flynn.

Much to the consternation of his mother Babette (a steely Helena Bonham Carter), the young Nicholas nips over to Prague for a week and is appalled by what he finds there. In roughly assembled camps, he sees countless families cramped together, while hearing stories of how Hitler’s foot soldiers are beating Jewish children. However, to help all these people escape their inevitable fate would seem to be nigh on impossible. But as Winton says, the destitution is something he “cannot unsee.” As Hitler’s forces threaten to invade, Winton decides to evacuate as many children to England as he can, all the while facing scepticism, red tape and logistically irresolvable hurdles. Who in England would be willing to house a strange child, albeit a young evacuee from inevitable death? Recruiting the resolve of his mother and others willing to risk their own lives, Winton sets about organising a mass exodus while piercing the conscience of British bureaucracy. He simply concedes, “we have to believe this might be possible.”

A timely tale applied with a gentle hand, One Life avoids the usual pitfalls of many a wartime melodrama. The director James Hawes, whose theatrical debut this is, eschews the usual tropes, allowing the strength of the material to speak for itself. We are thankfully spared, then, the swirling camera moves, chromatic variations, orchestral flourishes or anything that draws attention to itself. Instead, we get convincing reenactments of the period (the film was shot in Prague) and an air of understatement that merely magnifies the inherent drama. And few performers prove as subtle as Anthony Hopkins (when the occasion demands), whose talent shows no sign of abating as the actor marches through his eighties. As the younger Winton, Johnny Flynn makes an excellent match, while Romola Garai, Marthe Keller, Helena Bonham Carter and Lena Olin (as Winton’s Danish wife Grete) are all on top form. And guided along by Volker Bertelmann’s poignant, delicate score, the story builds to an emotional climax, celebrating the potential and fundamental decency of ordinary people. In light of the current refugee crisis, it is a film that demands to be seen.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, Jonathan Pryce, Tim Steed, Tom Glenister, Antonie Formanová, Adrian Rawlins, Samantha Spiro, Ziggy Heath, Sean Brodeur.

Dir James Hawes, Pro Joanna Laurie, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Guy Heeley, Screenplay Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, from the book If It’s Not Impossible…The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton, Ph Zac Nicholson, Pro Des Christina Moore, Ed Lucia Zucchetti, Music Volker Bertelmann, Costumes Joanna Eatwell, Dialect coaches Neil Swain, Sandra Butterworth and Claudia Vaseková.

See-Saw Films/BBC Film/MBK Productions/Cross City Films/FilmNation Entertainment/LipSync-Warner Bros (UK)/Bleecker Street (US).
109 mins. UK. 2023. UK Rel: 1 January 2024. US Rel: 15 March 2024. Cert. 12A.

Priscilla

Scala!!!