‘One Life’ review: Hopkins excels in a poignant, tear-jerking Second World War drama

Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton in One Life courtesy of courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Because of the vast majority of Second World War films, a lot of the horrible moments happening during the Holocaust have been captured on film. Many filmmakers focus on the same events, but occasionally, we see a story that has yet to make it to the cinemas. One is about Sir Nicholas Winton, a British humanitarian who extraordinarily saved hundreds of children. Why it took so long to bring his story to the big screen is still a mystery. Still, luckily, it’s now coming to UK cinemas as director James Hawes (The Challenger) makes it the centre of his debut feature.

The genuinely heart-breaking One Life is an adaptation of the novel If It’s Not Impossible… The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton — alternates between two timelines. We see the 29-year-old London stockbroker Winton — played delicately and very effectively by Johnny Flynn — who’s horrified by what he witnesses in wartime Prague and especially in Czechoslovakia. He decides that together with his mother Babette (Helena Bonham Carter), a German-Jewish migrant herself, he will try and get as many Jewish children as possible out of the country by train before the borders close and the Germans invade Prague. They get the help of the head of a British committee, Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai), Trevor (Alex Sharp) and Esther Rantzen (Samantha Spiro).