Directed By James Hawes

Starring – Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin, Helena Bonham Carter

The Plot – The true story of Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton (Hopkins), a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued 669 predominantly Jewish children from the Nazis. Nicky visited Prague in December 1938 and found families who had fled the rise of the Nazis in Germany and Austria, living in desperate conditions with little or no shelter and food, and under threat of Nazi invasion. Fifty years later, it’s 1988 and Nicky lives haunted by the fate of the children he wasn’t able to bring to safety in England; always blaming himself for not doing more. It’s not until a live BBC television show, ‘That’s Life’, surprises him by introducing him to some surviving children, now adults, that he finally begins to come to terms with the guilt and grief he had carried for five decades.

Rated PG for thematic material, smoking and some adult language.

One Life – Official Trailer – Warner Bros. UK & Ireland (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Many films have been made pertaining to Hitler’s cruely inhumane treatment of Jewish citizens, but those revolving around children always hit the hardest for me personally, outlining the overwhelming tragedy that has forced many of them into new lives, and that’s best case scenario among them. For “One Life”, that becomes a reality once more, as Hawes story revolving around Winton not only transcribes dread and despair to the atmospheric realities of these children’s every day realities, with real-life horror stories being conveyed by the dozens, but also a sincere admiration for Winton himself, who was ultimately the difference maker in a world that felt so cold and hopeless for each of them. Aside from Hopkins candid performance, which I will dive into later, Winton is illustrated as selflessly and passionate about his cause as one can expect from an admirable protagonist, going above and beyond to find each of these children safe households to escape the eradication of their culture that was growing deeper by the day, all while choosing to remain in the background to a mission that he himself made clear was constantly about the kids, and not the people working behind the scenes. Perhaps Winton’s most fascinating parts, for me anyway, are when he’s portrayed in the later half of the narrative by Hopkins, who brilliantly bestows a haunted conscience to Winton as a result of the few that he didn’t save versus the hundreds that he did. It’s highly admirable to see a man who still bares the memories of so many children that he came into contact with, but at a dear price to his sanity that has prescribed his character such unfinished business, leading to a third act climax that will equally tug at your heart while you tug at the tissues. Aside from Hopkins, it was nice to see Carter away from the clutches of Tim Burton, not because I don’t enjoy her work in his films, but to once more prove that she is a legitimate dramatic presence in the context of scenes that inspire the fiery registries and compassion of what she brings best to the table here. Unfortunately, Helena’s role is limited to supporting at best, but her arrival during the initial building blocks of the movie’s opening act did ingest some much needed energy and magnetism to the engagement when it needed it most, allowing her to hold her own against one of the greatest actors of our generation, even with a screen time imbalance that isn’t in her favor. It was also nice to see a “Two Popes” reunion, as Jonathan Pryce appears for a one-off cameo that only further emphasized the perfection in chemistry that he shares with Hopkins, as well as the banter between them that had me yearning for more, even when I coherently interpreted that we would probably never see his character again. Balancing the merit and tenacity of the performances are the technical components behind the scenes, with cinematography and score conjuring the perils of Prague during this distinct timely setting of 1938. Cinematographer Zac Nicholson (Great name) triggers a damply weathered helplessness to what is often deemed The Golden City, and when combined with composer Volker Bertelmann’s piano-driven compositions playing to the ghosts of those aforementioned youthful souls, marries a tranquil union between sight and sound that makes the key ingredients feel like they’re cohesively working with one another. Lastly, while I have my issues with the script and how key information is conveyed, I feel like “One Life” transcends being just another biopic with the intention of being a first step towards wanting to learn more about Winton, mostly in the final act of the film, which increased my final grade a whole point with the closure it stitches to the story. Without spoiling much, I can say that there is a reunion of sorts between Nicholas and those deemed his children by the media, and while initial exposition about him and his motivations for risking his life comes quite scarce during our initial moments with him, the film’s closing moments right the wrong with the character’s own internal healing that feels like culmination of fifty years of his life’s work coming to a close, all with on-screen text during the film’s closing credits that contextualize the long and prosperous life of a man who truly made an impactful difference on the world that was crumbling around him.

NEGATIVES

While much of the idea in plot should be enough to effortlessly capture the attention of the audience, I can say that the script does feel a bit underdeveloped at times, especially during the opening act, where we’re immediately thrust into the conflict with little to no connection towards it. These first 30 minutes or so have a real tell-and-not-show kind of vibe to the storytelling that they’re delivering, and while the film obviously can’t capture everything in 105 minutes of its run time, I feel like some on-the-ground experiences with these children and their families being ripped from their homes and lives, could’ve added to the emotional impact, which feels virtually absent until a key sequence during the later part of the film’s second act. With a PG rating that offers little freedom in what can be shown, exploitation was never going to be a reality here, nor should it ever be, but when a film is constantly reacting to events that happened somewhere in the distance of the film, it’s going to dramatically underscore the urgency and magnitude of what’s taking shape, especially in that we learn so little about these children throughout the entire engagement. This is my other major issue with the script, as the faithful focus by the wayside of Nicholas never involves him interacting with these kids in any kind of way that realizes them as living, breathing entities, instead just reserving themselves for momentary reaction shots that feel like extensions of their various photographs. I can understand that perhaps the production didn’t want any one or two children to stand out above the rest, but there is a child in the film who Nicholas has an irrefutable connection with, and considering the dynamic of their interactions never expand beyond their initial interviewing engagement, it feels like his reaction towards her in the 80’s timeline is dramatically missing something integral towards her development. Finally, I found the consistency of the movie’s editing to be inconsistent and at times even a little jarring with the imbalance of its time donations between scenes. Sometimes this results in certain scenes feeling prolonged, with the tedium of repetition hammering home what we’ve already learned minutes earlier, and sometimes an attention-stealing moment comes and goes with nothing in the way of significance for why it was included in the first place. One such scene involves Hopkins breaking down into tears while in the clutches of his wife’s arms, with no contextual connection to a previous scene or expansion afterwards to justify the means of such release. If this were the only example in the film, I could easily forgive it, but it feels like there’s a thorough director’s cut somewhere in the distance of this touched-up draft, and one that I would’ve preferred, if just to learn more insight into external actions that are sometimes cryptic.

OVERALL
“One Life” overcomes imbalanced editing and a tedious opening act bordering on boredom, to craft a simplistically straight-forward biopic that illustrates a world of uncertainty through youthful eyes. At the age of 86, Hopkins still knows how to capably command a character, imbedding Nicholas Winton with humbling humanity and grave responsibility that effortlessly appraises empathy to the humanitarian, all while inside of a film that never deviates away from the idea of adult actions trickling down to child consequences.

My Grade: 7/10 or B