‘One Life’ Review: Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn Spotlight the Selfless Deeds of ‘the British Schindler’
variety.comAlissa Simon Film Critic A classically crafted feature debut from veteran TV director James Hawes (“Black Mirror”), “One Life” intercuts two eras 50 years apart in the long life of humble British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton (1909-2015), referred to by some as “the British Schindler.” The biopic serves as a testament to the power of good, with a prestige cast including a fine, understated Anthony Hopkins as the reflective, older Winton, still haunted by the tragic end to his plan to save European child refugees, and Johnny Flynn as his energetic younger self, who embodies the belief that that if something is not impossible, then there must be a way to do it.
Although the film as a whole struggles to match the poignancy of its finale, a re-creation of a famous 1988 clip from the British TV program “That’s Life!,” it nevertheless serves as an urgent reminder of the importance of individual action at a time when the world refugee crisis is at a scale not seen since the Second World War.
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.
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