One life: A humble film about a humble man

One life tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who saved 669 Czechoslovakian children just before the Second World War broke out, by arranging transport, visas and foster families for the children when they arrived in London from Prague. The film is based on the book by Sir Nicholas's daughter, Barbara Winton.

One life | Released in Australia December 2023 | Viewed January 2024 | Directed by James Hawes | Main cast: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin. Helena Bonham Carter, and Johnny Flynn

You may have seen footage on social media of the episode of British television series, That's life, in the late 1980s, when Nicholas and his wife, Grete, sat in the front row of the studio. The presenter asked any audience members who had been on the transports from Prague in 1939 to stand up. The entire audience stands. It's an emotional moment, when Nicholas realises the scale of actions. He sees for the first time the children he saved grown into adulthood. I defy anyone to remain unaffected by this scene. I cried unashamedly in the cinema when I watched that scene even though I knew it was coming.

One life jumps between young Nicky's first visit to Prague in 1938, where he was horrified by the plight of Czech refugees, most of them Jewish, after Hitler's troops invaded the Sudetenland before war broke out. Nicky sets out to send as many children as possible to safety in England. His plans seemed crazy at the time, but he was determined to do something, with the aid of his feisty, unstoppable mother in London (played brilliantly by Helena Bonham-Carter) and two British refugee workers in Prague.

The war scenes have been played out many times in film, so there is nothing new in them in One life. That said, the film does a good job of highlighting the horrendous conditions in which the refugees were living in Prague in winter, the trauma the families faced in their separation, and the incredible acts Nicky, his mother, and the refugee workers had to perform to get the children out of Europe. There isn't much to show why Nicky did what he did, other than his mother explaining that she raised him as a good human. I suppose this makes his brave acts even more admirable.

The viewer gets to know Sir Nicholas through both parts of the film, first as the dogged young stockbroker determined to do the impossible, and then as an older man, burying his wartime actions in charitable work in an attempt to compensate for the children he could not save. He is painted as a humble man, almost embarrassed by any attention his work would generate. The film nicely explores the weight Sir Nicholas carried and his belief that he had done so little when humanity should demand that even one life saved is something brave and honourable. There is a poignant scene when Sir Nicholas meets with Elisabeth Maxwell to show her the modest scrapbook he had kept as a record of the Kindertransports. He finally realises (as does Elisabeth) just what he had accomplished. Both this scene and the later one in the That's life studio are deeply moving, where Sir Nicholas is forced to deal with the weight of what he did do rather than what he did not, shifting his self-perception in the process.

One life is a film as understated as the man at the centre of the narrative. There is nothing flashy, clever or ground-breaking about the film-making. The film tells a remarkable story, though, particularly when considering how buried Nicholas's selfless actions were for over 40 years after the war ended. Sir Anthony Hopkins does an incredible job as the older Nicholas and I felt every emotion he was experiencing, his modesty so evident across both parts of the film. Johnny Flynn is also great as the young Nicky, as are Romola Garai and Alex Sharp as the British aid workers in Prague.

The story of Sir Nicholas Winton and the transports of children from Prague is an important one to tell, but the saddest part is that Nicky's actions were even needed. The film shows Nicky and his mother battling bureaucracy to obtain visas for the children, but really only hints at why it was such a struggle to get the refugees out of Europe. History tells us that borders were closed and visas were hard to obtain and we know, of course, what happened to the millions of people unable to escape Nazi persecution during the war. It could be an even more powerful story if the film delves deeper into how little the British government (and others) did to assist the victims of Hitler's Aryan and expansionist policies. Given the horrors that are unfolding in Palestine as I write this post, I hope, too, that the film's release is the chance for viewers to think critically about what it means to be human.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐