Movie Review: One Life

The new movie “One Life” starring Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton is another World War II story that I am surprised has not been a major film in the past. Nicholas Winton was a young London broker who visited Prague Czechoslovakia in December 1938 right before the Nazis were about to invade and take over the country.

Winton took it upon himself to rescue hundreds of child refugees in Czechoslovakia from the extreme cold and the oncoming Nazi occupation. His plan was to send all of the children to safety in England, providing them shelter and whenever possible, foster homes. The logistical issues with trying to save the lives of so many Jewish children were overwhelming for Winton and his entire staff and very well depicted in this movie. Despite Winton’s efforts that saved hundreds of lives, he was still haunted by the children he could not save for most of his life.

Some 50 years later, A BBC show, “That’s Life” rescued Winton from his guilt and grief making him a national hero, later knighted by the Queen of England. The “That’s Life” TV show provided an impressive climax to this movie, where Winton stands up and sees an audience filled with the now adults that he saved as children. By saving so many children from the Nazis in 1938, hundreds of thousands of people and their descendants are alive today, only because of what Winton did in 1938. This film will remind everyone of the 1993 movie “Shindler’s List”, directed by Steven Speilberg.

Overall I thought this was a well-done historical movie about an important event during World War II. The acting was outstanding, including Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin, Helena Bonham Carter, and Matilda Thorpe. My only issue with this movie is that on too many occasions, the film was too slow and boring in telling one of the most important stories of the beginning of World War II.

The second video below is the 60 Minutes story about Winton's life and also shows the BBC television show, which is the climax of this excellent film.

This time around, I do agree with the high 89% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and do recommend this important historical film.