It is said that with age comes wisdom. It can also be said that with age comes memories in the form of photographs and diaries long kept stored away and rarely looked at.
One day in a lovely house in England in 1987, Grete Winton suggests to her 78-year-old husband Nicholas, a retired stockbroker, that he might want to go through the clutter that’s crammed into his home office.
The couple has a good marriage, and Nicholas enjoys puttering around the yard. One thing he especially loves is his in-ground swimming pool, which he believes is adding healthy years to his life. However, he agrees with Grete about all the scrapbooks with their photos and newspaper clippings and the boxes of old documents. They do need to be gone through.
We learn that the material is something much more than marginally important to Mr. Winton. In truth, it’s historic. In 1939, Winton performed extraordinary acts of mercy in Czechoslovakia, which was also colloquially known as Bohemia and Moravia at the time. In the Czech state, he began carrying out what was also being done in Germany and Austria.
Winton started rescuing children, most of them Jewish orphans. He was putting them on trains to travel through western Europe, cross the English Channel on boats, and eventually live with families in Britain. Those children who may have had one parent or a relative would probably never see the adults again.
In November 1938, Nazi authorities staged violent attacks on Jews in Germany. The terror campaign was called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). This led to the British government easing immigration restrictions for specific Jewish refugees. British authorities allowed unaccompanied minors under the age of 17 to enter Great Britain from Germany and the German-annexed territories, which were the “Czech lands” and Austria. They were supported by public opinion and the unrelenting efforts of a number of refugee aid committees, including the Movement For The Care Of Children From Germany, as well as the British Committee For The Jews Of Germany.
Private citizens and organizations had to guarantee payment for the care of every child, their education, and the eventual return to their homeland when the crisis ended. As a quid pro quo, the British government agreed to allow unaccompanied refugee children to enter the country on temporary travel visas. It was understood at the time that the children would return to their families when it was practical. Neither parents nor guardians could accompany the children. Any infants that might be included in the program would be cared for by their older brothers or sisters.
As we learn in “One Life,” a riveting true-life drama from first-time feature film director James Hawes, with World War II on the horizon, Winton was responsible for the rescue of 669 children. Until the Nazis, which had taken control of Czechoslovakia, closed the border, Winton was able to travel back and forth from the United Kingdom. He worked relentlessly with Czech citizens to save the children.
Anthony Hopkins plays the older Winton, and Johnny Flynn plays Nicholas in 1939, during the months in which he conducted his rescue missions. Both actors are extraordinary.
Hopkins has to play a man who relishes his privacy and remembers the importance of what he did, but who has never sought publicity. Flynn is called upon to be passionate and never fear what he’s doing. His major worry is the passage of time because of the fundamental recognition that the Nazis are assuredly going to consolidate their power in Czechoslovakia and start rounding up Jewish citizens. Director Hawes and his screenwriters, Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, create a riveting veil of tension.
The Nazis allowed the children to leave until they didn’t. Even the very young needed visas. Rarely has the phrase “papers please” seemed so threatening. As Europe spirals out of control and creates its own momentum of madness, difficulties increase and complexities abound. It’s astonishing that so many children were able to leave for a safe haven in such a short period of time.
In the autumn of 1939, as the slaughter that will be the hallmark of World War II begins, Winton’s last trainload of children is intercepted by the Nazis and stopped from going to England. The 250 innocents aboard will almost certainly be taken to a concentration camp, with their fate unknown. Hawes has already gotten exceptional performances from the children in his cast. The stopping of the train generates heartbreaking moments.
Up to this point, Hopkins has acted as a character wrapped in serenity. However, as Nicholas goes through his papers, the breaking point stirs. Winton is haunted by the children he couldn’t save. He has said previously: “I’ve learned to keep my imagination in check.” In reality, he has erected a wall around his thoughts. When his emotions do crack, it is a powerful moment in an already powerful movie.
“One Life” has superior production values and is rich with visual and historical detail. The superb cinematography from Zac Nicholson is painterly in the best sense of the word. Hopkins and Flynn are supported by a terrific cast, including Lena Olin as Nicholas’s wife, Helena Bonham Carter as his mother, Jonathan Pryce as a friend, as well as Alex Sharp and acting legend Marthe Keller. The film is based on the book, “If It’s Not Impossible… The Life Of Sir Nicholas Winton,” by his daughter Barbara Winton. “One Life” is playing in theaters.
For Nicholas, who lived to be 106, there will be an event that is delivered in a cinematically calm fashion. It alters how he is compelled to recall his brave accomplishment. I won’t reveal the closing 20 minutes, but it makes a remarkable movie even more effective. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by what happens.