Resident book and film reviewer, Clive Hodges, shares his thoughts on the film One Life, based on the book of the same name by Barbara Winton.
Classification: PG (mild themes, mild violence, coarse language)
Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes; in English;
Director: James Hawes
Cast includes: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn
Genre: history, drama, biography
In December 1938, 29-year-old Nicholas Winton travels to Prague to help a friend involved in Jewish refugee work. He offers his time to the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia (BCRC) and compiles a list of Jewish children fleeing from the Nazis. Back in Britain, he’s successful in cutting through the government’s red tape to enable the youngsters to be brought to the UK.
His mother works with him to place the children in foster homes. Sponsors are sought and advertisements placed seeking British families to house the young refugees. Nicholas Winter and his compassionate colleagues save the lives of 669 children.
The last group due to leave Prague on the 3rd September 1939, is stopped when the Nazis arrive at the railway station.
Kindertransport route from Prague to London
Winton marries in 1948. Forty years later, his wife finds a scrapbook. It includes correspondence and photographs relating to the Czech Kindertransport. An historian known to the Winton family shows it to a journalist. The archive becomes public knowledge. BBC television runs the story with Winton in the audience. You will need a few tissues.
As many of the volunteers who had worked for the BCRC have either died or are so elderly they are not interested in the publicity, Winton becomes the living symbol of British help to refugees fleeing the Nazis. He is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003. Sir Nicholas Winton died in his sleep in 2015. He was 106 years old.
One Life, based on a true story, is adapted from the book by Barbara Winton. James Hawes, the director, has done a grand job. The ensemble acting is excellent and the running time is spot on. An Academy nomination for Anthony Hopkins for best actor is a strong possibility.
FIVE STARS
Reviewed by Clive Hodges
