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‘One Life’ Review: One Man’s Rescue of Children in Wartime

A British stockbroker quietly saved hundreds of lives by arranging for children in Prague to escape the Nazis by leaving for foster homes in England.

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By Ben Kenigsberg

When Nicholas Winton died in 2015 at 106, his obituary in The New York Times noted that, for decades, he had been startlingly reserved about what he achieved at the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Between the Munich Agreement in 1938 and Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, Winton organized a rapidly moving operation that saved 669 children, most of them Jewish, by transporting them from Prague to Britain, where they were placed with foster families.

The rescue didn’t receive wide public attention for 50 years, partly because, as the biographical feature “One Life” depicts, Winton (played by Johnny Flynn as a young man and Anthony Hopkins in scenes set later) was reluctant to acknowledge his heroism. In trying to capture this almost stoic modesty, the film, directed by James Hawes, falls into a dramaturgical trap.

“One Life” is really two movies. It looks back on the wartime actions from 1987, when Winton considers what to do about a scrapbook of photos and documents he has kept. Flashbacks to the 1930s open a window on his plan to locate Jewish children in Prague, secure visas for each of them and find them temporary families in Britain. Time, financing and bureaucracy loomed as stubborn obstacles.

The procedural complexities, and Winton’s efforts to gain the trust of the children’s parents, are compelling enough. They throw down a moral gauntlet to viewers, who must put themselves in his shoes. The motives of Winton, a British stockbroker and socialist with German-Jewish roots, are portrayed as pure altruism.

By contrast, the 1980s thread — which builds to Winton’s appearances on the BBC program “That’s Life!” in 1988 — might have played discretely as a portrait of mental compartmentalization. But intercut with the weightier wartime scenes, this strand comes across as slight and, unlike Winton, self-congratulatory.

One Life Rated PG. Running time 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters.

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Movie Review: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn find poignant synergy in real-life war tale ‘One Life’

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Anthony Hopkins in a scene from “One Life.” (Bleecker Street via AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Anthony Hopkins in a scene from “One Life.” (Peter Mountain/Bleecker Street via AP)

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By the time Nicholas Winton died in 2015 at the ripe age of 106, the former London stockbroker and self-proclaimed “ordinary man” had been widely recognized for his extraordinary deeds — rescuing 669 Jewish children from the Nazis, saving them from certain death.

But for most of his life, Winton’s rescue of those children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, bringing them to safety in Britain, was unknown to the public. His story was revealed dramatically on the BBC show “That’s Life!” in 1988, which introduced him, in an emotional surprise, to some of the very people he’d saved. Tears were shed and a fuss was made over this unfussy man. He was dubbed the “British Schindler,” and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.

Even if you didn’t know Anthony Hopkins was starring in “One Life,” the straightforward yet still moving new drama based on Winton’s tale, you’d be forgiven for assuming it the minute you learned Winton was a modest and quiet elderly man, keeping much to himself. Hopkins can play such a character in his sleep.

What he’s truly great at, though, is that moment when he finally lets the wall around him crumble and shows what he’s been feeling all along. Yes, this happens in “One Life,” and yes, you’ll likely be wiping tears along with him. The emotional payoff takes a while to arrive, but once it does in the last act of this film, you’ll have a hard time forgetting Hopkins’ face.

Holocaust-themed movies are crucial but notoriously tricky ventures. At Sunday’s Oscars, Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” was honored for a hugely inventive approach , illustrating the banality of Nazi evil in its chilling portrayal of an Auschwitz commandant’s family life right outside the camp wall. “One Life,” directed with efficiency by James Hawes, takes a much more traditional approach, telling its story in flashback with dialogue that sometimes borders on the overly expository, but with a lovely cast and a story that begs to be told.

Hopkins is the key draw, but Johnny Flynn, the talented actor-musician, has the difficult task of channeling Hopkins as a younger man (the filmmakers chose to shoot the Hopkins scenes first, so that Flynn could then build the connective tissue between the two, something he does admirably.) And it’s a lot more than 50 years that separate the two versions of Winton. It’s the war itself. The events with younger Winton took place in 1939, as the Nazis were marching across Europe but two years before they began implementing their so-called Final Solution, the mass murder of European Jews. The elder Winton knew exactly what became of all those children he couldn’t bring to safety, and you can see it in his eyes here.

We first meet the elder Winton at home in Maidenhead, a town in southeast England. It’s 1987, and he’s staring at faded photos of children from the war. He spends his days involved in local charity work. He can’t seem to get rid of all the clutter in his study, despite the pleadings of his wife, Grete (Lena Olin), who tells him: “You have to let go, for your own sake.” He’s still trying to figure out what to do with a frayed leather briefcase, which contains a precious scrapbook full of war memories.

We flash back to 1939 London, when 29-year-old Nicky, as he’s known, who is of Jewish descent but has been raised as a Christian, resolves to leave the comfortable home he lives in with his mother, Babi (Helena Bonham Carter), to travel to Prague. He aims to help with the growing crisis caused by the influx of refugees from the Sudetenland region just annexed by Germany; he and others fear (correctly) that the Nazis will soon invade and send the Jewish refugees to camps.

In Prague, he finds desperate families and starving children, like a 12-year-old girl caring for an infant who has lost its parents. “We have to move the children,” he tells his colleagues. They say the task is too daunting. He persists, convincing a local rabbi to give him lists of children to begin the process (“I’m putting their lives in your hands,” the rabbi tells him.) Upon his return to London, aided by his spirited mother, he embarks on a furious race against time and government bureaucracy to obtain visas for the children and raise awareness in the media. “The process takes time,” an official says. “We don’t have time,” he replies.

Somehow, he manages to get the transports going, meeting the trains in London, where children are matched with foster families. (The most moving scenes in the film, until the emotional crescendo at the end, are departure scenes in Prague, with children saying goodbye to parents who must surely sense they’ll never see them again).

As the film toggles between 1939 and 1987-88, we learn that Winton managed to get eight trains of children out but not a ninth, with 250 children who were turned back once the Nazis invaded, a loss he keeps buried inside. That is, until he he meets a Holocaust researcher who happens to be married to news magnate Robert Maxwell.

That meeting ultimately leads to the climax in the television studio, faithfully recreated by Hawes, who actually once worked on that very BBC show. The scene is doubly poignant given the knowledge that some of the background actors in the studio that day were actual family members of those Winton saved. “There was not a dry eye on the set floor,” the director has said.

That’s not difficult to believe.

“One Life,” a Bleecker Street release, has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association “for thematic material, smoking and some language.” Running time: 110 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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One Life Reviews

Winton’s wartime heroism and its emotional toll on him decades later, told in two time frames. His is an extraordinary story, with a strong payoff and stellar performances by two-time Oscar winner Hopkins and a star-studded supporting cast.

Full Review | Apr 4, 2024

It's a story worth telling and re-telling — and also one worthy of a more comprehensive treatment than One Life.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Apr 3, 2024

One Life works very well -- an impeccable period reconstruction, an emotional classic narrative, and a vindicating message illuminating the altruism of a man who had everything and chose to risk it all to help others. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Mar 27, 2024

Sir Anthony Hopkins, in a massively nuanced performance, allows audiences inside Nicky's head and world rewinding history to the moment his life changed forever

Full Review | Mar 25, 2024

James Hawes directs the film within the margins of a BBC 'quality' production. Nothing against that, but when he defies them, the film grows, and, yes, there you can liken it to Spielberg's 'Schindler's List'. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 25, 2024

What director James Hawes tells is very transcendent, but he does it academically with a tendency towards the conventional... What is difficult to ignore is the presence of the now-elderly Anthony Hopkins. [Full review in Spanish]

If “One Life” does anything well, it is stressing the importance of bureaucrats behaving like human beings, not as indifferent agentic state actors who do not feel personal responsibility when acting on behalf of a grander authority

Full Review | Mar 24, 2024

Anthony Hopkins continues to bless us with one amazing performance after another.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 24, 2024

One Life is n example of historical storytelling that doesn’t need artificial drama to get its points across—the truth is dramatic and moving enough. Hopkins' and Flynn’s performances beautifully blend to paint a nicely crafted portrait.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 23, 2024

Nicholas Winton is an example of what a monumental humanitarian effort can do, as quoted in the film’s post scripts, “If you save one life, you save the world.” Hopkins’ and Flynn’s passionate performances more than illuminate that message. 

Full Review | Mar 23, 2024

Despite the fact that this film's narrative is like a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth between 1988 and 50 years earlier, it works well. All the flashbacks provide context to the rescue operation, and to the continuing legacy of that operation.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Mar 22, 2024

Among the recent spate of WWII dramas about ordinary people who did extraordinary things...James Hawes’s One Life, a British film, is one of the best.

Full Review | Mar 22, 2024

It shows the legacy of heroes who champion life’s dignity in a world that often cheapens it.

Full Review | Mar 21, 2024

A true tearjerker presented with clarity and sincerity.

Full Review | Mar 20, 2024

An excellent Anthony Hopkins in the role of a person who decides to risk his safety to save lives during World War II. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 20, 2024

Volker Bertelmann's tender score adds just the right touch to this excellent film that should not be missed.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2024

There will be no dry eye, any time, in any theater, where "One Life" is shown. One life that saved 669 lives, which has thus far resulted in approximately 6,000 descendants.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 19, 2024

Hanky, please, for the humanitarian the U.K. press dubbed the “British Schindler.”

One of the best films of 2024...Sir Anthony Hopkins gives a performance that can break your heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 18, 2024

The performance by Hopkins is wonderful, though, in a role you just feel was made for this treasured actor.

Full Review | Mar 18, 2024

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One Life review – Anthony Hopkins in extraordinary true story of ‘British Schindler’

Hopkins stars as Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 Jewish children from the Nazis – alongside Helena Bonham Carter on mighty form

Y ou’d need a heart of stone not to be touched by this extraordinary true story of Nicholas Winton, the “British Schindler”, and by the simplicity and heartfelt directness with which it’s told by screenwriters Nick Drake and Lucinda Coxon and director James Hawes. It’s a story of wartime Europe and postwar memory, and also a noble and inspired moment in the history of British popular TV.

Anthony Hopkins plays Winton, a stockbroker in prosperous retirement in the 1980s who, after some nagging from his wife Grete (Lena Olin), is clearing out clutter and finally concentrates on something he’s been yearning and dreading to re-examine: a scrapbook with details of the 669 Czech Jewish children he and other humanitarians saved against incredible odds from the Nazis in the late 30s, without any historian knowing. This involved raising money, badgering government departments for visas, organising foster care; his own Kindertransport in fact. Johnny Flynn plays Winton as the young pro-refugee activist and Helena Bonham Carter packs a mighty thespian punch as Flynn’s formidable no-nonsense mother Babette, who runs his campaign from London.

The rescue mission involved nine trainloads of children, all of which have to pass through Nazi territory on their way to Britain. These are scenes of almost unbearable tension: at any moment, for any bureaucratic reason, or just for no reason at all, the Nazi soldiers suspiciously inspecting the children’s papers on board the train could turn them back. Eight trainloads get through reasonably well, due to their rescuers’ British national status in this prewar time – but the ninth is still on the platform at Prague when news of Germany’s invasion of Poland comes through. Swaggering Nazi soldiers swarm into the station and anguish and horror is imminent; this is the tragedy that colours Winton’s memories.

After the local press failed to get interested in this remarkable document, it caught the attention of Elisabeth Maxwell, wife of Robert; and from there it passed to Esther Rantzen (played here by Samantha Spiro), host of the legendary popular show That’s Life! Rantzen invites him to the show twice, in a This-Is-Your-Life-type surprise, and on the second occasion, secretly contrives for every single other member of the studio audience to be either one of these grownup child refugees or a descendant. It was a goofy, almost silly caper which could have gone wrong or turned out to be misjudged; instead it was a moment of secular grace, like something from a late Shakespeare play. The film does justice to this overwhelmingly moving event in British public life in a quietly affecting drama.

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‘One Life’ Review: Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn Spotlight the Selfless Deeds of ‘the British Schindler’

A stirring biopic covers two eras in the long life of humble British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton, who helped organize transports saving some 669 Czech and Slovak children in 1939.

By Alissa Simon

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In December 1938, Winton, known as Nicky, then a 29-year-old London stockbroker, visits Prague. Seeing the appalling conditions in refugee camps housing those fleeing from Austria, Germany and the Sudetenland, he launches an operation to rescue vulnerable children under the auspices of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia. Many of the youngsters are Jews in imminent danger of deportation. Before WW2 is declared on Sept. 1, 1939, he masterminds eight successful transports, bringing 669 Czech and Slovak youngsters to foster families in Great Britain. 

As the ever-modest Winton would have wanted, the film is careful to share the credit for the evacuation transports and host family placements. While he ultimately organizes and raises money from the UK, we see (albeit barely characterized) Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai), head of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia in Prague, and Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp), a former school teacher, doing dangerous work on the ground in the Czech capital. 

While the tense, action-oriented 1938-39 timeline is inherently more compelling because of the race to get all the moving pieces (the trains, the visas, the host families, the £50-per-child bond, medical certificates) in place to transport the children out of Prague before the Nazis enter and the borders close, the 1988 section is slower and more contemplative. Nearing 80-years-old and urged by his wife Grete (Lena Olin) to reduce some of his store of papers, Winton, who never told his family about his role in saving so many refugees, wonders what lessons the scrapbook documenting his work might offer to a wider public.

Strangely for a script based on the book “If It’s Not Impossible” by Winton’s daughter Barbara, the portrayal of Nicky’s Danish-born wife strikes an off-key note. Rather than a much-loved support, she comes across as a critical, neatnik nag. Plus, the miscast Lena Olin, almost unrecognizable under a bad wig, looks so much younger than Hopkins that one might first assume that she’s his daughter.

Why did Winton never discuss his heroic acts prior to 1988? The film sidesteps the question, but shows that its protagonist considers himself an ordinary man whose lifelong values dictate his actions. As we see when he meets his old friend Martin (Jonathan Pryce), the man who urged him to go to Prague in the first place, they are from a generation that rarely speaks about the past, much less the traumas they have seen or endured.

This, in part, is what makes Winton’s two appearances on “That’s Life!” so emotionally stirring. The past deeds that he has so long ignored reap a harvest of feelings guaranteed to draw a tear from even the hardest of hearts.

Shooting on location in both the U.K. and Czech Republic, helmer Hawes and his collaborators create strong period looks for each timeline, giving them each their own natural rhythm. Ace editor Lucia Zucchetti moves seamlessly back and forth between them while Volker Bertelmann’s attractive piano and orchestra score is never overbearing.

Reviewed online, Sept. 10, 2023. In Toronto, BFI London film festivals. Running time: 110 MIN.

• Production: (U.K.) A See-Saw Films Production. (World sales: FilmNation Entertainment, New York.) Producers: Joanna Laurie,Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Guy Heeley. Executive producers: Simon Gillis, Eva Yates, Barbara Winton, Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan, Peter Hampden.
• Crew: Director: James Hawes. Screenplay: Lucinda Coxon, Nick Drake, based on the book “If It’s Not Impossible” by Barbara Winton. Camera: Zac Nicholson. Editor: Lucia Zucchetti. Music: Volker Bertelmann.
• With: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, Jonathan Pryce, Helena Bonham Carter. (English, Czech, German dialogue)

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‘One Life’ Review: Anthony Hopkins Is Devastating in British Prestige Biopic with Silly Script

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Editor’s Note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Bleecker Street will open “One Life” in select theaters March 15, 2024.

Like OBEs, middlebrow British prestige biopics symbolize a desire to raise national morale by bestowing laurels upon an extraordinary individual. These subjects require no special case-making, for their efforts speak for themselves. The result tends to be patronizingly risk-averse, as story dots are joined with the goal of spoon-feeding a historic achievement to the masses. An inspirational message becomes a claim to contemporary relevance while a popular actor leads the charge towards awards recognition.

James Hawes, a British TV director whose most notable credits are two episodes of “Black Mirror” (“Hated in the Nation” and Smithereens”) moves cautiously into the film-o-sphere with a kid-gloves handling of the story of Sir Nicholas Winton. His film intercuts between two timelines: in 1938, Winton, a mild-mannered stockbroker played by Johnny Flynn, feels the acute peril on a visit to Prague and forms the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC) to evacuate Jewish children to London, saving 669 lives; in 1987, Maidenhead, Anthony Hopkins plays a sharp-humored yet preoccupied man who has never forgiven himself for the children he did not have time to bring across. This timeline builds up to a moment in media history, restaging an overwhelming episode of “That’s Life!,” a daytime BBC TV consumer affairs show, in which the previously anonymous Winton became a national hero in the course of minutes.

The undeniably moving nature of Winton and his associates’ deeds swell the narrative with rich emotional currents, however the film’s bid for consistent quality is kneecapped by a ridiculously on-the-nose script. Unobtrusively accurate period detail, rendered by production designer Christina Moore, becomes a backdrop for silly back-and-forths. A key scene for the brand new BBRC takes place in a bar where pleasingly drab costumes only means that dialogue pops like a cartoon animal’s speech bubble.

The subject of conversation is whether the British people will respond to a newspaper advert looking for adoptive parents for the refugee children. “You have a lot of faith in ordinary people,” someone says to Nicholas. ”I do, because I am an ordinary person,” he counters. Soon they are toasting to “an army of ordinary people” and the film’s outlook is announced with all the subtlety of a blow to the head.

Hawes exerts damage control on the script, but also clashes with it, via a visual language that trades in realism, bearing out his public statements about taking inspiration from contemporary images of Ukrainian refugees. “One Life” flirts with transcending its shortcomings in its stark depiction of parents saying goodbye to their tiny, wide-eyed children — big gloved hands slowly letting go of smaller hands, before the small-hand owners shuffle onto a steam train, identifiable by numbers written on cardboard and hung about their necks with string. These partings happen in batches across the 1938 section, always mercifully dialogue-free, and so the dramatic irony (we know that this is a permanent goodbye) wrenches anew. 

At this point in a sensational career, it is to be expected that Hopkins will sink his teeth into any part. Somehow, presumably through witchcraft, he sails over expectations, and the way that he does this (on top of the witchcraft) is by taking a pause to reset a scene in order that he can take it from the top with smaller inflections and movements. He neutralizes the overbaked dialogue with a deadpan delivery, before proceeding to act with every other tool in his arsenal. When the script is not your friend, silence is, and the most moving and memorable moments arrive when Hopkins simply sits with a loaded piece of information. His response to the blunt and needless point that the children he could not save would almost definitely have been murdered in concentration camps is, eventually, “Bloody Hitler!” — humor shoehorned in to diffuse the pain. 

The “That’s Life!” scene when it arrives is too, too much. The film has no curiosity over, or desire to interrogate, the ethical implications of emotionally ambushing a private man in such a public setting. Instead, it restages what went down, verbatim, as a handy climax which offers a moment of transformation and a personal outlet for Winton, handled with typical small beauty by Hopkins. Much as a hungry child will salivate on seeing a chocolate bar, so the circumstances depicted yank at the heart strings with something approaching brutality. The film’s faith in ordinary people extends to a belief that we will adopt child refugees, but a belief that we can interpret art is a bridge too far.

“One Life” premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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‘One Life': Anthony Hopkins magnificent as a man who kept his WWII heroism under wraps

Covering two stages of nicholas winton’s life, inspirational british biopic also depicts how he smuggled 669 jewish children out of prague..

At a TV taping, Nicholas Winton (Anthony Hopkins) learns he’s sitting next to a woman (Henrietta Garden) he had saved when she was a child in “One Life.”

Bleecker Street

If you Google “Sir Nicholas Winton TV show,” you’ll be a click away from a YouTube clip from a 1988 episode of the BBC talk show “That’s Life” in which the man who organized the rescue of some 669 children in World War II was honored by the host and was informed that the woman sitting next to him in the studio audience was one of the people he had helped save. The host then said, “May I ask, is there anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to Nicholas Winton?”, at which point two dozen people in the stands stood up.

Little wonder the clip has some 42 million views; it’s an iconic television moment, sure to move your heart. Now comes the inspirational and unabashedly sentimental biopic “One Life,” which tells the story of the events that led to that TV clip.

Anthony Hopkins turns in yet another world-class performance as the older Nicholas Winton in the late 1980s, and Johnny Flynn rises to the challenge of playing the younger Nicholas in the flashback sequences that are set in the late 1930s and make up roughly half the film.

Director James Hawes and screenwriters Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake (adapting a biography of Winton written by his daughter, Barbara) find just the right balance in toggling back and forth between the urgent and tense scenes in the Europe of the 1930s and the portrait of Nicholas in his later years, when he is finally ready to share his previously unknown story with the world.

This is every inch the prestige Brit biopic, from the use of certain visuals as transitions to the lush and rousing music by Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) to the sometimes heavy-handed messaging in the dialogue, but the story of the man who came to be known as “The British Oskar Schindler” is deserving of the reverent biography treatment, and who better than Anthony Hopkins to tell us that story?

“One Life” opens with Hopkins’ Nicholas, a retired stockbroker, enjoying a comfortable life at a lovely home in Maidenhead, England, in 1987, with his wife Grete (the always wonderful Lena Olin), who gently gets on Nicholas’ case about finally clearing out the clutter in his office, which has spilled into other areas of the home. Also: It’s time for Nicholas to decide what he’s going to do with the scrapbook inside an old leather briefcase — the scrapbook that contains photos and newspaper articles and records pertaining to the 669 Jewish Czech children he and his colleagues saved from the Nazis just before all hell broke loose in Prague. Surely, a museum or a library would be interested?

• ‘The Father’: Anthony Hopkins at the peak of his powers as a man losing grip on reality

Cut to 1938, with Johnny Flynn as the young Nicholas Winton, a successful broker at the London Stock Exchange who heads to Prague to see if there’s anything he can do to help with the efforts to help families who are trying to leave before Hitler invades. When Nicholas arrives at the emergency aid organization run by Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai), Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp) and Marta Diamontova (Antonie Formanová), they’re almost amused by his naivete as Winton makes noise about raising the funds and obtaining the paperwork to facilitate the evacuation of hundreds of children — but they’re soon all-in. They risk their lives and work tirelessly to eventually fill eight trains with children who will have to pass through Nazi-occupied territory to make it to Britain. (Helena Bonham Carter is a force as Winton’s mother in London, who is of course deeply worried about her son taking so many chances but supports him every step of the way.)

Johnny Flynn plays young Nicholas Winton, filling trains with Jewish children to cross Nazi-occupied territory to safety in Britain in 1938.

Winton, like Schindler, is consumed with doing everything he can to save as many lives as possible — but it’s the ones he couldn’t protect that haunt him. Just as the ninth train is about to leave the station, the Nazis arrive and commandeer it, and we know those children and their guides will almost certainly never be seen again.

Johnny Flynn portrays the young Nicholas as a mild-mannered but fiercely determined and self-described “ordinary man” who does extraordinary things in a time of crushing intensity, while Hopkins conveys Nicholas' gratitude for a long and prosperous life — the love between Winton and Grete is so beautifully portrayed — and anguish of memories from a half-century earlier.

I’ll leave it to the film to outline how Winton comes to be on that TV show and say only that the depiction of events adheres quite closely to the true story. At the age of 86, Anthony Hopkins remains at the top of his game; as his work in “One Life” reminds us, he’s one of the finest actors in the history of film.

Review: In ‘One Life,’ a Holocaust hero’s story gets the modest treatment he would have preferred

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The cinematic image of children boarding trains in World War II is, typically, a traumatic one. But in “One Life,” directed by James Hawes, it is wildly, blindly hopeful, as children board trains in Prague, bound for England, escaping dire conditions in refugee camps and the encroaching Nazi occupation, seemingly steps away.

“One Life” is the true story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton , a British stockbroker and humanitarian who, in 1939, helped to arrange the escape of 669 children from Czechoslovakia. Written by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the film is based on a book by Winton’s daughter, Barbara Winton, “If It’s Not Impossible … the Life of Sir Nicholas Winton.” The film marks the feature directorial debut of Hawes, who also did the first season of the Apple TV+ spy series “Slow Horses.”

“One Life” weaves together two periods in Winton’s life, 50 years apart. Anthony Hopkins plays Winton in 1987, enjoying a life of peaceful retirement with his wife, Grete (Lena Olin). At the behest of Grete, while cleaning out his office, he uncovers his old scrapbook containing the records and remnants of his pre-war endeavors helping refugee children. His efforts have gone unrecognized in the years since, the children scattered to foster families across Britain, but he remains haunted by their faces, snapped in photographs that he pores over with a magnifying glass.

Johnny Flynn plays Winton five decades earlier, a stern and quiet man, the son of German Jewish immigrants who converted to Christianity and changed their last name in order to assimilate in England. Concerned with reports from occupied Sudetenland, Winton takes a leave from his banking job and meets a friend in Prague in order to assist with the refugee efforts. He immediately becomes taken with the cause of evacuating as many children as he can to England.

The comparison to “Schindler’s List” is apt — Winton has colloquially been known as “the British Schindler” — and the film will feel familiar, if not formulaic, because we have seen films like this about World War II and the Holocaust. Hawes utilizes that iconography without exploiting or sensationalizing the material; the film is emotionally restrained in a way that is almost frustrating at times but ultimately reflects the character of Winton’s quiet, self-effacing personality.

As Hopkins’ Winton puzzles over what to do with his scrapbook, it’s the other people in his life, including his old friend Martin (Jonathan Pryce) and others like Elizabeth “Betty” Maxwell (Marthe Keller) — a Holocaust researcher and the wife of the infamous media magnate Robert Maxwell — who emphasize what an important humanitarian achievement he spearheaded. In fact, it’s not until Winton appears on a surprising 1988 episode of the British chat show “That’s Life!” that he’s able to comprehend the sheer human impact of his efforts and the emotion begins to seep through.

There is a subdued, unshowy but profound beauty to Hawes’ work. The pre-war timeline is the kind of sturdy World War II-era filmmaking that we have come to expect, rendered with a comforting authenticity. As audience members, we do crave a bit more naked emotion or even personal motivation from young Nicky (Flynn’s performance is as muted as he’s ever been). But Hawes and the screenwriters steer away from delving into psychological inquiries.

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They seem less interested in why Winton did it and more that he simply just did. Bound by certain inherent values of decency and kindness instilled in him by his mother (Helena Bonham Carter), he applied his skill for paperwork to the logistical nightmare that was extracting these kids from a terrible situation. He and his friends, Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai) and Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp), describe themselves as simply ordinary people raising an army of ordinary people to do something not only good but life-saving for innocent children caught in the maw of war.

“One Life” is a slow burn, slowly establishing Winton’s modest character as a younger and older man, but when it cracks open, it is a deeply moving portrait of true human goodness. The emotional resonance comes not from the dramatic wartime events, but rather from the long-term effects of Winton’s efforts many years later. His story proves that a few months of helping others can turn into generational legacies, that 600 souls can turn into 6,000, and that one life can have a lasting impact on the world.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'One Life'

Rated: PG for thematic material, smoking and some language Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Playing: In wide release Friday, March 15

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One Life movie review: Anthony Hopkins is deeply moving as ‘British Schindler’

One life movie review: as portrayed by a marvellous anthony hopkins, nicholas winton is a man as burdened by what he did, as what he could not..

Heroes now come pumping 56-inch chests, their stories embellished and amplified over multiple platforms. Now imagine an old, grey-hair gentleman, doddering around at home, shuffling through old memories, reluctantly bringing to light a story that needs to be told, hoping the focus will not be on him.

That is what makes the little-known heroism of Nicholas Winton, an English stockbroker who played a key role in rescuing 669 children of largely Jewish descent from Prague just before Hitler started World War II, so special. Even the British only discovered him 50 years later, in 1989, when his story made it to the BBC show That’s Life!, and quickly dubbed him ‘The British Schindler’.

However, as portrayed by a marvellous Hopkins, Winton is a man as burdened by what he did, as what he could not. Those days and months leading up to the rescue have come flooding back to him now as he is cleaning up his house to make way for a coming grandchild. Now he must decide what he should do with a scrapbook containing the names, photographs, and other details of the children whose transport from Prague to Britain – through Nazi Germany – he helped organise.

Winton admits he wonders at times what happened to the children who made it, as much as he pushes away imagining what happened to those who didn’t.

It’s courtesy Hopkins’s deeply moving portrayal, and Olin’s as his supportive, understanding wife, that the post-WWII section of the film is even more effective than when the children are actually being saved from under the noses of the Gestapo.

Flynn as the younger Winton can’t evoke the same depths nor director Hawkes the needed tension — so that, while admirable, Winton and his comrades’ roles in this chapter of WWII history seems almost colourless. That goes for Bonham-Carter too, in the role of Winton’s mother, a German Jew who migrated to Britain after the First World War, who is right behind him every step of the way.

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Winton once makes a passing mention of how he wants the story out as it “remains so relevant”. Perhaps even more so now than in 1989, with the world shutting its doors to immigrants, and the next likely “leader of the free world” describing them as “animals”.

Yet, as Winton puts it, what he is doing is just the “decent” thing to do. “Save a life, save the world.”

How many can make that claim?

One Life movie cast: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Helena Bonham Carter One Life movie director: James Hawes One Life movie rating: 3.5 stars

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'One Life' Review: Anthony Hopkins Portrays a British Humanitarian in this Powerful Adaptation l TIFF 2023

Under James Hawes' direction, this biopic does justice to the late Sir Nicholas Winton's humble mission.

"Don't start what you can't finish." In One Life , protagonist Nicky Winton (the younger version played by Johnny Flynn and an older version played by Anthony Hopkins ) hears this advice before embarking on his most altruistic mission: saving Jewish children under precarious living conditions before the Nazis take over Prague near World War II. Although this task seemed impossible at the time, Winton didn't take "no" for an answer, and his decision resulted in over 669 children being redirected to foster care homes and protected by the British people before the war broke out. Based on a true story written by real-life Winton's daughter, Barbara Winton , it is a sensitive portrayal of a humanitarian hero who never saw himself that way.

Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn Are Each Excellent as Nicholas Winton

Nicholas Winton is the heart of this project directed by James Hawes , and the actors who portray the character on the big screen are likewise. One Life introduces Hopkins as the present-day version of Winton, a man who clings to the past and is constantly haunted by the children he didn't get to save instead of focusing on the lives he did. The two-time Academy Award winner embraces the quietness, vulnerability, and even cheeky aspects of Winton's personality as he tries to let go of all the boxes containing files from his time as a member of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia. Winton manages to clear up his office space, but he still holds onto a scrapbook containing vital information about the children who were successfully able to flee Prague before it was too late. As he tries to find a new home for the scrapbook, ideally a place where it will serve an educational purpose instead of just accumulating dust in a library, Winton eventually uncovers what happened to a lot of the children who were impacted by his and his team's mission.

RELATED: TIFF 2023: The Movies We're Looking Forward to Most

As previously mentioned, Hopkins is excellent in his depiction of the humanitarian in his later years, but it is important to take note of Johnny Flynn's just as impeccable portrayal of the protagonist at a younger age. Although there is a clear physical resemblance between the two actors, their similar mannerisms and presence on-screen help viewers to grow accustomed to the time jumps from 1938 to 1988 throughout the film. In addition to their portrayal of the main character, the inclusion of props such as visas, family pictures, and set design that were authentic to the time frames depicted in the film helped to tell this story movingly. It is clear how the attention to detail from Hawes and the production team elevate this project, especially when it came to recreating the BBC "That's Life" segment with real-life people who were impacted by Winton's mission.

The camera moves also allow the film to help audiences distinguish the events from 1938 to 1988. During flashbacks to Winton's younger years, the scenes seemed to have been shot with handheld cameras, giving an inside glimpse into the chaos of getting children outside of Prague with the right documentation and making sure that they would have a home once landing in England. These scenes clash with those set in 1988 because the shots are often still, showing that Winton's life has settled down, and he is no longer in a rush to save people.

The Film's Ensemble Show That Winton Is Not the Only Savior in 'One Life'

Although the film is centered on Winton's life story, honoring his accomplishments that were left unnoticed for many years, he isn't the only hero here. If it weren't for Winton's colleagues Trevor ( Alex Sharp ), Doreen Warriner ( Romola Garai ), and Betty Maxwell ( Marthe Keller ), the plan wouldn't have left the page. In addition to these pivotal members of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia, Winton wouldn't have known how to begin to make his mission a reality without his mother's hands on deck. Babette Winton, phenomenally played by Helena Bonham Carter , is the one who contacts the authorities to find out what were the required documents to help the children flee Prague. She also supports him throughout the entire process of getting all the visas and foster families sorted out.

Winton later on gets help from his friend Martin Blake ( Jonathan Pryce ) when he tries to find a new home for his scrapbook. Although Hopkins and Pryce only have one scene to reunite after their work onscreen in The Two Popes , their interaction in the film is fundamental to Winton's journey to reconnect with some of the kids who were saved before the war. Given that One Life is based on a true story, it can be really easy for the script to be drama-infused and Oscar-bait, but this film coasts on its simplicity. Like Winton himself, the film doesn't brag about its qualities but displays them as they are. Director James Hawes doesn't have to do a lot to translate the story from page to screen. Having the right cast selection for each role (especially that of Winton) and being attentive to keeping props, set design and people involved in the project that have been directly affected by Winton is enough to make everything work here in a seeming way.

As a whole, One Life is a successful example of how to do a film that works best in keeping things simple and letting the details speak for themselves. Winton was an ordinary man, who chose to do something extraordinary for the good of humankind at a historically divisive moment. He and his team made sure to help children not to get something out of it, but to protect the vulnerable and have compassion for the less fortunate. The film has the power to bring its audience to tears because the story is powerful, and the thoughtful creative decisions do justice to it.

The Big Picture

• Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn deliver excellent portrayals of Nicholas Winton at different stages of his life.
• The film pays homage to Winton's colleagues and mother, highlighting their pivotal roles in the mission's success, while keeping the story grounded and simple, allowing the powerful details to speak for themselves.
• The thoughtful creative decisions do justice to a story about the importance of protecting the vulnerable.

One Life had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Moving war-time biopic celebrates the best of humanity.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Decency, compassion, courage, perseverance, and in

Nicholas Winton is an inherently good person and i

The film is the true story of hundreds of young re

Much of the the horrors of WWI play off-screen. Bu

Some use of "bollocking," "s--t," "damn," "twit,"

Characters are seen smoking. There is also some dr

Parents need to know that One Life is a British drama based on the true story of Nicholas Winton who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis in the outbreak of World War II. Set across two timelines -- Johnny Flynn plays Winton in the 1930s and Anthony Hopkins plays him in the1980s -- the film celebrates…

Positive Messages

Decency, compassion, courage, perseverance, and integrity are all prominent themes, even during times of war. Standing up to tyranny and doing what you can to help those in need. However, the film also touches upon accepting that you can't help everyone and not to blame yourself if that proves to be the case.

Positive Role Models

Nicholas Winton is an inherently good person and incredibly humble with it. He shows great compassion and levels of courage as he tries to rescue as many children as he can from the Nazis and is selfless with it -- refusing to take any credit for his heroics. He has a small team of others who share the same principles, and also risk their lives to help others. They are willing to bend the rules somewhat, but for the greater good.

Diverse Representations

The film is the true story of hundreds of young refugees, many Jewish, being saved from Nazi persecution in the outbreak of World War II. The story is told from the perspective of a White male, Nicholas Winton, and leans into something of a White saviour narrative, although Winton claims to also have Jewish grandparents. His motives are also questioned by a Jewish man, which feels like the filmmaker's way of acknowledging this potential criticism. There are no characters of color apart from a Black reporter only seen in the background. Female characters are given more agency, with a number showing courage and being integral in the rescue missions. A young child is seen with a large birthmark on their face that goes without mention and helps normalize such representation on-screen. The antisemitism shown by the Nazis (and others) lingers throughout. An elderly man who, for the large part, is shown to be stoic and unwilling to show emotion, eventually breaks down displaying a vulnerability not always shown in movies.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Much of the the horrors of WWI play off-screen. But the imminent threat and fear of those being persecuted is prominent throughout. Families are torn apart in desperate bids to survive and are seen living in poor conditions in refugee camps. There is a depiction of an abandoned baby and reference to children and parents being beaten and going missing, feared dead. Suicide reference. An intense scene involves a train being hijacked by Nazis -- people, including children are forcibly pulled off the train. Antisemitic behavior displayed and references to Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Some use of "bollocking," "s--t," "damn," "twit," "crikey," and "bloody." Also "God's sake" and "Christ" used as exclamations. Antisemitic remarks such as a note saying "Refujews go home" and two Nazis saying "Why would England want all these Jews?"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters are seen smoking. There is also some drinking including four people doing shots a at a bar. But no drunkenness is depicted. An elderly character is seen drinking at home alone.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that One Life is a British drama based on the true story of Nicholas Winton who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis in the outbreak of World War II. Set across two timelines -- Johnny Flynn plays Winton in the 1930s and Anthony Hopkins plays him in the1980s -- the film celebrates the goodness in humanity, despite the horrors of war and antisemitism at the time. Winton shows immense courage and striking compassion, while never looking for thanks or plaudits. Although the movie strays away from any actual graphic violence, threat is a constant, and families are shown being torn apart. In one scene, Nazi soldiers physically pull children and adults off a train, and there are constant references to people going missing, presumed dead. The refugees are seen in camps with poor conditions, while there are also references to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. During the 1930s scenes, characters are seen smoking, which is reflective of the time period. Language includes occasional use of "s--t," "bloody," and "Christ" as an exclamation. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 1 parent review

How will you live your " one life"

What's the story.

ONE LIFE tells the remarkable true story of Nicholas Winton who risked everything to help save Jewish children in the lead up to World War II. Leaving behind his supportive mother ( Helena Bonham Carter ) in England, Winton ( Johnny Flynn ) sets off alone to Czechoslovakia and after witnessing families being forced out of their homes into hopeless refugee camps, makes it his mission to rescue hundreds of children to the safety of the British Isles. Fifty years later, Winton ( Anthony Hopkins ) still carries this heavy burden and decides to try and tell the story of those children.

Is It Any Good?

This British biographical drama survives off its incredible story. One Life is set across two timelines, with Flynn and Hopkins both playing the central role of Winton, a man who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis in the run up to WWII. Many people with have seen the viral clip of an elderly Winton being surprised by several of these children -- now adults -- during a British television broadcast in the 1980s. It's a profoundly moving TV moment. The issue with James Hawes' film, however, is that while Winton's selflessness was nothing short of incredible, the actual act itself lacks dramatic tension. Most of what Winton achieved, and how he went about it, was largely paperwork. It was securing the right documents to ensure the majority Jewish children were able to leave Czechoslovakia and make it to England safely. This takes nothing away from Winton and the film is a worthy tribute to a great man. But as a movie it just lacks a sense of cinematic intensity. The performance by Hopkins is wonderful, though, in a role you just feel was made for this treasured actor.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the positive messages in One Life . Nicholas Winton shows tremendous perseverance , compassion , integrity , humility , empathy , and courage in his quest. Why are these such important character strengths to have? Can you think of a time when you've shown these traits?

How do you think the children in the movie must have felt? Did the events shown in the film remind you of anything happening today?

Discuss the outbreak of World War II as depicted in the film. Do you know much about this time period? Has this movie encouraged you to learn more about it? How to talk with kids about violence, crime, and war.

How was smoking depicted in the film? Was it glamorized? How has our behavior when it comes to smoking changed from when the movie was set?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 15, 2024
• Cast : Anthony Hopkins , Johnny Flynn , Helena Bonham Carter
• Director : James Hawes
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Female writers
• Studio : Bleecker Street Media
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History , Trains
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Courage , Empathy , Humility , Perseverance
• Run time : 110 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : thematic material, smoking and some language
• Last updated : February 1, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Time Out says

A remarkable World War II story told conventionally but elevated by a superb Anthony Hopkins

From 1973-94, That’s Life! was a BBC TV magazine show that bizarrely toggled between consumer affairs and a so-called ‘sideways’ look at life (basically vegetables that resembled genitals). Perhaps it’s only worthwhile, deeply poignant moment – one that does the rounds on social media roughly every 4 months – features an elderly man, Nicholas Winton, who is gobsmacked to discover he is sitting in the studio audience surrounded by some of the now grown-up children he rescued from war-torn Czechoslovakia some 50 years earlier.

James Hawes’s One Life – the title is drawn from the Hebrew scripture: ‘He who saves one life saves the world entire’ – dramatises Winton’s story with a restraint that is at once admirable but perhaps hamstrings its effectiveness as a drama. Winton is often called ‘the British Oskar Schindler’. Held back by a more conservative aesthetic and emotional approach, One Life comes nowhere near the power and veracity of Steven Spielberg’s film. But it does have an ace in the hole in Anthony Hopkins, whose performance delivers a subtle but profound gut-punch.

The screenplay by Lucinda Coxon ( The Danish Girl ) and co-writer Nick Drake flits between 1938, just after the annexation of the Sudetenland, and the sedate surrounds of 1980s Berkshire. In the pre-war sections, ‘Nicky’ (played with gusto by Johnny Flynn) is a London bank worker – dogged and good with paperwork – who is drawn into the refugee crisis in Prague and forms the British Committee for Refugees to evacuate Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to London.  

Anthony Hopkins’ performance delivers a subtle but profound gut-punch

This section sees Winton, with the help of his mother back in London (Helena Bonham Carter operating at peak Helena Bonham Carter), battling red tape to find families for the kids, mixing the mundane (no film has more scenes of photographs being affixed to documents) and the over-heated (of course there is a last gasp attempt to secure a counterfeit visa). Cinematographer Zac Nicholson’s handheld camera amps up the dread and desperation, but too many tearful scenes of kids being separated from parents and shoved on to trains start to lose effectiveness.

The film is better when it switches to the ’80s and the older Winton (Hopkins), now in his ’70s, living a quiet life in the suburbs with wife Grete ( The Reader ’s Lena Olin) but still tormented by thoughts of not rescuing more than the 669 children he did save. At this point the camera calms down, Hawes having the good sense to stay on Hopkins’ face. Perhaps the most dialled-down performance the actor has given in years, Hopkins perfectly etches an arc from grief and regret towards self-forgiveness, hinting at a form of PTSD without ever over-playing his hand. By the time Winton has his epiphany in the That’s Life! studio, it’s a hard heart that isn’t moved. 

In US theaters Fri Mar 15.

Cast and crew

• Director: James Hawes
• Screenwriter: Lucinda Coxon, Nick Drake
• Anthony Hopkins
• Johnny Flynn
• Helena Bonham Carter
• Romola Garai
• Jonathan Pryce

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One Life Review

01 Jan 2024

For those old enough to remember, a particular 1988 episode of That’s Life! , hosted by Esther Rantzen, was an iconic moment in British television history. Nicholas Winton, the man who rescued 669 Czech-Jewish children from the threat of Nazi Germany, was given a poignant reunion with the children he managed to save, many of whom made up part of the studio audience.

James Hawes’ One Life is a solid retelling of the events which led to that historic TV moment, although his feature-film debut, despite its parallels with conflicts happening today, doesn’t match the emotional heights of Rantzen’s show. The safe and conventional filmmaking here almost derails the intended power and importance of Nicholas’ achievements. But at least it offers a notable takeaway on how the ordinary can accomplish something extraordinary.

Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake’s script splits its efforts between Maidenhead, 1987, and London, 1938. Tasked by his wife Grete (Lena Olin) to clear out his old things and let go of the past, the older Winton (Anthony Hopkins) — a hoarder extraordinaire — rediscovers his old scrapbook. He begins reminiscing about his pre-war efforts, when the young Winton (Johnny Flynn) visited Prague and had a life-changing experience, witnessing children in refugee camps, living in inhospitable conditions. Cue visas, trains, fundraising, record-keeping and cutting through the legal red tape to get the youngsters out of the country as the threat of war looms.

Hopkins delivers a heartfelt and sincere performance

Coxon and Drake keep things light and simple, opting for a formulaic approach heavily reliant on an emotionally stirring third act. However, such a move doesn’t always do its two-pronged storyline justice. The plot — a surface-level dramatisation at best — suffers from missed opportunities to meaningfully explore the psychological impact of the rescue, not just from Nicholas’ point of view, but also the eyes of others who were instrumental in the evacuation. Thanks to their lack of on-screen development, Romola Garai’s Doreen and Alex Sharp’s Trevor, the film’s major supporting characters, end up the biggest casualties left on the sidelines.

In spite of such shortcomings, One Life finds its strength through Anthony Hopkins. An actor whom you can always depend on, Hopkins delivers a heartfelt and sincere performance, capturing the melancholic gravity behind Winton’s pain, grief and regret over not accomplishing more. You feel that weight and nuance whenever he studies an old photograph or attempts to share his story with the press, making that powerful and cathartic conclusion worthwhile. Flynn is equally impressive as his younger counterpart. It’s in these performances that One Life really comes to life.

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Movies | 07 09 2023

Culture | Film

One Life movie review: If you don’t cry at this beautiful tribute you need medical help

Could this film bring Sir Anthony Hopkins his third Academy Award, lifting him out of the densely populated people-with-two-Oscars bracket and into the exalted company of the Streeps and the Nicholsons and the Day-Lewises?

In the end Cillian Murphy ’s prestige-y, serious-y, cigarette-y, weight loss-y turn as Robert J Oppenheimer will most likely thwart him. And it won’t help that One Life does, with its syrupy strings and somewhat grey palette, undeniably have more than a hint of BBC TV drama about it.

But by God this is a superb performance: one in which Hopkins, as Nicholas Winton, imbues every frame he is in with warmth and wit and sadness and charming British eccentricity. He switches effortlessly between moments of genuine, laugh-out-loud levity (including a wonderful use of ‘twit’ when describing a newspaper editor) and what are by far the most moving scenes in any film this year. Honestly, anyone who doesn’t blub their way through the entire last half an hour should be checked for a pulse on the way out.

It helps that the story is such a remarkable one: Nicholas Winton was a well-to-do stockbroker who, at the start of the Second World War, is so horrified by unfolding events that he heads off to Prague to do something, anything, he can to help the terrified young refugees fleeing Hitler. People – including his mother, played by Helena Bonham-Carter – think he is crazy. But he somehow manages to organise visa and trains and get hundreds of mainly Jewish children to safety in the UK; what has since become known as the Kindertransport.

Then in 1988 as an old man, he is reunited with many of the people whose lives he saved on an episode of That’s Life, where they get to finally thank him for all that he did. Winton was sometimes called the British Oskar Schindler, and the parallels go beyond their acts of extreme kindness: both men were completely consumed by the task they undertook and never able to focus on the people that they did save, only those that they failed to save.

Johnny Flynn is great as the younger Winton, weaving his way through frenetic, terrifying scenes of the actual evacuations. Yet even though he and Hopkins share the film’s running time almost equally, it is the latter’s scenes that cut deepest and which will live longest in the memory of everyone who sees them. It is, unquestionably, Hopkins’s film.

And of course it is also one that, with all that is happening in Israel and Palestine, now has added resonance: a reminder that, as leaders of regimes launch threats and missiles at each other, it is innocent people – and often innocent and very young people – that will pay the prince.

One can only pray that there are more Nicholas Wintons in the world right now, desperately doing anything they can to get them to safety, performing similar acts of madness-slash-kindness that the world probably won’t know about for a long time. And hope that when their stories are discovered, films as beautiful as this one are made about them.

One Life is released in the UK on January 5, 2024

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Movie Review: ‘One Life’- The inspiring true story of Sir Nicholas Winton

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Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Early in One Life , twenty-nine-year-old London stockbroker Nicholas Winton (Johnny Flynn) visits a makeshift camp in the center of Prague in 1938. Here, the mostly Jewish displaced families from Germany and Austria who fled the Nazi regime live in homeless squalor and starvation.  

Encountering child after child, he produces a half-eaten chocolate bar, which he proceeds to divvy among the starving children. Of course, there is not enough. In this moment, director James Hawes brilliantly shows Winton’s tacit epiphany: he must rescue these young victims.  

Over the next ninety minutes, the brisk, brutal, and beautiful film alternates between young Winton and the seventy-nine-year-old Winton (Anthony Hopkins) struggling with divesting remnants of his mammoth undertaking, symbolized by the briefcase given to him when he committed to helping the refugees’ plight. The briefcase is home to a scrapbook chronicling the entire undertaking.

While the film shifts in time, each section proceeds in a simple, linear fashion. The narrative is clear, with the story focusing on the action played out under the shadow of the encroaching Nazi invasion. Winton takes on the British government, negotiating immigration. Additionally, he finds hundreds of foster families. One Life makes paperwork and red tape a visceral issue of life and death. The scenes in Prague are vivid and harsh and truly haunting, calling to mind equally difficult images of current events.  

Winton becomes an active member of the Prague office of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC), headed by the formidable Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai). Devastating scenes of parents sending their children away and of sibling separation contrast with the cold British offices.  

Winton managed to get eight trains, with six hundred and sixty-nine children, from Czechoslovakia to London. The Nazi invasion of Poland stopped the ninth train, which contained three hundred and fifty children. Their fate, like so many, would be the Nazi death camps.

One Life is about faith in regular people, a tribute—as Winton declares of their coterie—to “an army of the ordinary.” Quiet but adamantly dogged in his pursuit of humanitarian aid, Winton is joined by his mother, Babi (Helena Bonham Carter). Babi is a Jewish-German immigrant who converted to the Church of England. Both sensitive and a voice of reason, she reminds Winton, “You cannot save them all. You must forgive yourself that.”

The 1988 section of the film shows Winton trying to decide what to do with the final remnants of these historical records. His internal struggle leads to his appearance on the crass but popular television show That’s Life . The recreation of his two appearances highlights the contemporary portion, allowing Winton to reconnect to the lives he saved. (The actual footage of the real Winton is available online and featured in the documentary The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton .)

Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake thoughtfully crafted a tight, taut screenplay from daughter Barbara Winton’s account of her father, If It’s Not Impossible … The Life of Nicholas Winton . James Hawes’ powerful direction is matched by Zac Nicholson’s stark, desaturated cinematography and perfectly complemented by Lucia Zucchetti’s sharp editing.  

The ensemble cast is uniformly strong. Hopkins, one of the greatest actors of our time, offers nuance, introspection, and pain, presented with subtlety and sensitivity. He is the rare actor that you can watch think. Flynn is his equal as his contemplative, anxious, younger self.

As Babi, the terrific Bonham Carter is a matriarchal force of nature, balancing raw honesty and wry humor. Garai brings depth and pain to the no-nonsense Warriner. As Winton’s wife, Grete, Lena Olin provides a luminous grounding, showing her deep love for the conflicted Winton. Jonathan Pryce is warm and knowing as Martin Blake, the older version of one of the BCRC members. Samuel Finzi’s scene as the Prague Rabbi Hertz presents a poignant meditation on complicated fears in the Czech Jewish community.  

But the performances that resonate above all are the children who play the refugees: they transcend the screen to create a heartbreaking reality.

According to the film, twenty-six thousand Jewish Czechoslovakian children were interred in concentration camps. Fewer than two hundred and fifty survived. Sir Nicholas Winton died at age one hundred and six, a man who never wanted the work to be about him. His legacy is some six thousand descendants because of the rescue mission. One Life is a genuine, gut-wrenching, but ultimately uplifting account of the ability of one person to make a difference.

Rated PG, the film is now playing in local theaters.

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• ‘Scoop’ Review: Prince Andrew’s Nightmare 2019 BBC Interview Becomes Riveting Netflix Movie

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On November 16, 2019, the BBC got a “ scoop ” that just might have saved Britain’s premier network for news. That is the night it aired its seemingly impossible “get” of HRH Prince Andrew actually sitting down with the BBC’s signature news show, Newsnight, to talk about the raging scandal over his relationship with the notorious Jeffrey Epstein , as well as his alleged sexual encounters with Virginia Roberts. However, the facts of the matter, such as they were, are not at all what the new Netflix film Scoop is all about.

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Scoop puts the focus squarely on the booker, Sam McAllister ( Billie Piper ), who was determined to shoot for the stars in nailing an interview no one really thought possible. I mean why would a member of the Royal Family submit for this kind of interrogation on a hot-button story when these accusations have already done irreparable harm to his reputation, the Queen, and the family at large? Director Philip Martin, working with an exceptional script from Peter Moffatt & Geoff Bussetil, slowly and methodically shows how it was done in highly suspenseful style.

It doesn’t matter that we already are well aware of how it turned out — obviously not well for a sweating Prince Andrew ( Rufus Sewell ) fumbling all the questions posed by the no-nonsense veteran anchor Emily Maitlis ( Gillian Anderson ), who played it cool as a cucumber in letting the Prince basically hang himself. Scoop is more about the way it all happened rather than the main event itself, even though the infamous interview is meticulously re-created and played for all it’s worth by Anderson and Sewell, both careful not to turn this all into a couple of not-credible imitations but rather two pros getting right at the essence of the real-life and still-living subjects they are playing.

Sewell is superb in more than suggesting the real Prince Andrew without turning it into a exageration. The same goes for Anderson, playing a living person for the first time and meeting the challenge of making a giant of the news business believable, even considering this woman has been on the air in people’s living rooms for four decades. But it is Piper who simply nails the tenacity and drive of McAllister, who would not give up against all odds of landing this interview. The moment when she is told Andrew’s private secretary is on the phone is simply thrilling. That character, Amanda Thirsk, is played brilliantly, and with admirable restraint, by Keeley Hawes , serving as sort of the key to the whole enterprise. Also excellent is veteran Romola Garai as the very sane and dedicated editor who knows this could turn around everything for her show and the BBC if they nab this interview.

If Scoop doesn’t quite reach the levels of the aforementioned film classics that have focused on what goes into bringing the truth and the goods to the public in the form of credible and reliable hardcore journalistic ethics, it certainly comes close on its own modest terms. And significantly, it manages to keep us on the edge our seats even if we do indeed know how it all ends. No small task.

Producers are Hilary Salmon and Radford Neville.

Title: Scoop Distributor: Netflix Release Date: April 5, 2024 (streaming) Director: Philip Martin Screenwriters: Peter Moffatt & Geoff Bussetil Cast: Billie Piper, Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Keeley Hawes, Romola Garai Rating: TV-14 Running Time: 1 hr 42 min

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Both drawn-out and deceptively simple, the trippy French comedy “Yannick” re-imagines a hostage situation as a surreal and very slow-burning farce. It happens to take place in the middle of a bad stage play. The title character, played by Raphael Quënard, interrupts a bizarre, high-strung divorce comedy called “Le Cocu,” or “The Cuckold,” which seems to be about an aggrieved husband ( Pio Marmaï ) and his wife ( Blanche Gardin ), the latter of whom confesses to having a “platonic” affair with some guy ( Sébastien Chassagne ) who suffers from “gut trouble.”

At first, Yannick’s a self-important nuisance. He stops the play cold just to submit his displeasure to both the three actors on stage and his fellow audience members. The play within the play’s actors—insecure Paul (Marmaï), inconstant Sophie (Gardin), and insubstantial William (Chassagne)—try to shoo Yannick away, but he won’t leave. He pulls out a gun and uses it to make room for himself on stage. The gun is loaded, though that doesn’t really matter. It’s a lightly held symbol of power. Piggy’s got the conch and he holds onto it for a weirdly long amount of time.

In the movie, Yannick’s relationship with his fellow audience members is never really clear. That exasperating and often amusing ambiguity is a specialty for the prolific writer/director Quentin Dupieux (“ Smoking Causes Coughing ”), whose name has become synonymous with this exact sort of stoner-friendly shaggy dog comedy. Yannick’s story, such as it is, has no firm shape. He shows up, takes up way too much space, and slowly turns the room against itself. The unspoken but usual rule of social engagement—a half-empty theater audience pays to watch and passively receive whatever’s presented to them—is completely ignored. Eventually, Yannick forces Paul and his co-stars to re-do the play, only now it meets Yannick’s particular standards. Some members of the theater audience express their displeasure with Yannick. He still gets a standing ovation in the end.

Some early reviews of “Yannick” have understandably described the comedy as “meta,” and suggested that it’s Dupieux’s response to his critics. I’m not really sure how that last part works, not only given where the movie ends up, but also the patience-testing lengths that Dupieux goes to get there. This is a proud timewaster of a comedy and it’s pretty amusing as such. Yannick may initially seem obviously unsympathetic, but he winds up charming several audience members anyway. One of them offers to put him up for the night, and nervously adds that he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy.

Dupieux doesn’t seem interested in either vindicating or excoriating Yannick. Because the play he’s interrupted is a boorish, whimsical boulevard comedy, the kind whose audiences should probably expect a certain for-the-cheap-seats style of humor and melodrama. Later in the movie, it’s revealed that the building where the entire movie takes place is named Theatre Herbreteau, which is likely a nod to Paris’s real-life Théâtre Hébertrot. So when Yannick complains about how long his commute was—or how he only gets so much time off from his job as a car park attendant—he’s not setting the stage for a sympathetic backstory. More like a series of hard rug pulls. Imagine if Rupert Pupkin forced meek and maybe even masochistic theatergoers and performers to listen while he airs his personal grievances and also tries out some new material.

It’s also worth noting that Paul, Sophie, and William are only so likable, as we see from the early “Le Cocu” scene that Yannick interrupts. They melt down, preen, and laugh whenever Dupieux thinks it would be amusing to continue spinning things out, which is often. Yannick’s actions still don’t really prove or establish anything, especially in light of the movie’s hilariously grim conclusion, filmed in a static long take, as if to emphasize how long we’ve waited for that finale.

There’s never really enough information to see these characters as psychologically complex people. They’re more like sitcom characters or sketch comedy stock types since their personalities and mannerisms are mostly dependent on whatever the situation is chaotically becoming at any given moment. Dupieux doesn’t really care about closure, as many viewers already know if they’re going to see a movie because it says “Quentin Dupieux” on the poster. Everyone else should be forewarned that the jokes in “Yannick” are often on the viewers since so much time and effort has been devoted to frustrating our expectations.

If anything, the most consistent thing about “Yannick” is how unsustainable its tone and narrative is from scene to scene. Dupieux’s latest will either annoy or charm you depending on how much you appreciate being led around by the nose by a filmmaker and a cast of characters who seem pretty committed to jerking you around. 

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Prince Andrew Is a Chillingly Good Villain in Epstein Interview Drama

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“Scoop” is one of the best movies about journalism in years—in large part due to its delightfully nasty, real-life bad guy.

Coleman Spilde

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In November 2019, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and his team had a problem that would not go away. After a photo of Prince Andrew alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released about a decade earlier, allegations of sex abuse from Epstein survivors and rumors of lecherous behavior followed the Duke for years. When Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and private island home were raided in fall 2019, Prince Andrew’s association with Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, could no longer be outrun. The Duke had exhausted his options, and if he were to ever fulfill any of his public-facing duties again, he had to first face that very audience.

Scoop , premiering April 5 on Netflix, bores into the timeline leading up to Prince Andrew’s November 16, 2019 interview on the BBC’s Newsnight program, in which journalist Emily Maitlis held the Duke’s loafers to the fire for the first time. Though the events of this fictionalized retelling are recent, those living outside of the U.K. may be entirely unfamiliar with the now-infamous interview. But whether you’re intimately knowledgeable of this moment in royal history or completely unaware of its importance and impact, Scoop is still a treat to watch unfold.

The film’s proceedings are made no less fascinating by their cultural pertinence, thanks to a taut script from screenwriters Geoff Bussetil and Peter Moffat that trims any unnecessary fat from the story. Sleek direction and a cast of skilled performers help on that front too, keeping the movie briskly paced without rushing through all of the detail necessary to disturb, enrage, and excite viewers. Fans of journalism movies with a few more stakes may find Scoop to be light on drama, but its execution is no less riveting. The film is lithe and understated, getting to the point without making an insistent spectacle of itself—exactly what journalism is all about.

Keeley Hawes, Rufus Sewell

Scoop opens with a vignette peering at the process of paparazzo Jae Donnelly (Connor Swindells), who took the photo of Prince Andrew and Epstein strolling together in Central Park back in 2010. It’s a fast-paced and exciting cold open, one that lays a groundwork upon which the rest of the film can build. One photo can be enough to change the course of history, and, in the case of Donnelly’s picture, spin several new threads for journalists to chase. A jump forward in time nine years finds Newsnight producer and guest booker Sam McAlister ( Billie Piper ) absentmindedly doing just that when she responds to an email from Prince Andrew’s secretary, Amanda (Keely Hawes), about a new, youth-facing initiative that the Duke is launching.

The film cleverly illustrates how small gestures can turn into major breakthroughs in the world of journalism. Much like Jae’s photograph, Sam’s innocuous reply to Amanda—“Would love to talk”—is all that it took to eventually hook a colossal fish. Sam, frustrated with her colleagues not trusting her judgment and journalism prowess, chases down her lead, meeting Amanda for a chat to talk brass tacks. As a middle-class single mother—who walks with her head held high and a Chanel brooch glimmering from her jacket in the BBC News lobby—who could be threatened by job cuts at the network, Sam has no time for games.

Sam’s personal predicament could easily be illustrated in mawkish ways intended to tug at the viewer’s heartstrings, but Scoop is smarter than that. Bussetil and Moffat know that their characters don’t need to be doe-eyed and desperate to connect with an audience. Watching Sam’s intrepid nature is enough to sympathize with her, and Piper’s portrayal of her character never veers into schmaltz either. She’s restrained, while convincing enough to impart the spirit of a journalist who knows how to communicate with her subjects. It’s a joy to watch her—and the film’s script—avoid any exasperated newsroom blow-ups or familiar “gotcha” twists.

That reluctance to craft false stakes is what makes Scoop a truly unique journalism film. After 2022’s She Said , which sometimes veered into cloying territory, it’s refreshing to see a movie that takes on a subject in the same realm and portrays it neatly. The absence of uncertainty over what might happen with the Prince Andrew interview (it does not go as the Duke hopes , but that’s far from a spoiler) works in Scoop ’s favor. We’ve seen enough journalism films where the embattled subject could wriggle their way out of a tight spot at any moment thanks to power, money, and institutions. But this film is an exceptional look at what happens when there is nowhere left to run. We, as viewers, get to see Prince Andrew’s downfall unfold behind the scenes. And though we know what will happen, it can be just as enjoyable to watch a film knowing someone will get their comeuppance as it is to worry whether justice will be served.

Keeley Hawes, Rufus Sewell, Charity Wakefield

If Scoop ’s cast wasn’t so talented, that may be a different story; it takes a gifted collection of actors to make a story feel gripping even when you know the outcome. Alongside Piper and Hawes—who brilliantly conveys the downtrodden but irresponsible Amanda— Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell are equally terrifying as Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew, respectively. Though she’s playing the woman who ultimately provided the Duke with the shovel with which he dug his own grave, Anderson’s part is relatively small. Still, she makes a lasting impression and proves a formidable presence against Sewell’s Duke.

It is, however, Prince Andrew who steals the show here, much like the real man did in his trainwreck of a Newsnight interview. Sewell transmits all of the Duke’s notable charm, which he used to minimize the gravity of the accusations against him over the years, as well as all of his creepy neuroses. Smarm is the name of the game when it comes to portraying someone like Prince Andrew, and Sewell’s take conjures it in droves. Watching him stroke the plush fur of the collection of plush animals that adorn the Duke’s bed and scoff at Maitlis slowly stoking the flames of his own self-immolation is a bewitching sight. And for anyone unfamiliar with Prince Andrew’s interview, Sewell keenly conveys all of the foolish self-assurance that the Duke exhibited during the hour-long chat. It’s an absorbing performance, and without Sewell’s talents, it would be far more difficult for Scoop to communicate the necessity of good journalism.

That’s the thing, too: Journalism doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking and full of huge, gasp-worthy moments to be important. Sometimes, it’s about moving a story forward and bringing it to a new place so the public, whom journalists service, can respond accordingly. Scoop nimbly reveals this state of symbiosis in a stylish, well-acted package that’s tough to take your eyes off of. It might not be the most ultra-powerful and exhilarating journalism film, but that’s exactly why it’s so refreshing. Watching the system do its job can be just as rousing as what happens next, and that’s something that future accounts could stand to consider when crafting real-life events into semi-fictionalized tales.

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