ARTS&LIFE
MOVIE REVIEW

W

hen contemplating 
the hideous details of 
the Holocaust, argu-
ably the worst crime in human 
history, many of us wonder what 
we would have done in the face of 
such inhumanity (or if we would 
have done anything at all). Those 
brave souls who did act in defiance 
of the atrocity were all too few.
One of the few was Nicholas 
Winton, a young stockbroker in 
London who found himself in 
Prague in 1938 and was witness to 
a refugee settlement in the middle 
of the city teaming with Jews from 
the Sudentenland (the portion of 
Czechoslovakia attained by the 
Nazis in 1938). 
The number of desperate Jews 
also included thousands from 
elsewhere in Europe. And though 
they have fled Nazi-occupied 
Czechoslovakia, Hitler’s acquisi-
tion of the rest of Czechoslovakia 
(including Prague) is inevitable.
One Life tells the story of 669 
Jewish children rescued from 
Prague due to Winton’s dogged 
persistence. The young Winton 
(played by Johnny Flynn), in 
1938, decides to assist the chil-
dren at risk in Prague, and the 
elder Winton (played by Anthony 
Hopkins) struggles with his mem-
ories at home in England in 1987.
Hopkins is in a viable position 
to be nominated for two Oscars 
in the same season (Freud’s Last 
Session being the actor’s earlier 
work). Of course, Hopkins is 
a great actor who can always 
deliver a masterful performance. 
But Flynn shows greatness in the 
movie, too, and he is certain to be 
mentioned in the next round of 
Oscar nominations.

Young Winton has to struggle 
with agencies in both Prague 
and London to arrange for the 
mass movement of the chil-
dren. Passports must be provided, 
foster homes in England must be 
available, pictures of the children 
must be taken, and monetary 
deposits are required for what is 
perceived as the eventual return 
of the children to their families.
This is just prior to the 
Nazi onslaught on the rest of 
Czechoslovakia and before the 

Nazi invasion of Poland on Sept. 
1, 1939 (war having been declared 
on Germany by Britain and 
France two days later). It was at 
this point of war that the Nazis 
closed the Czech borders, and the 
movie provides a horrifying scene 
of Jewish children being dragged 
off the trains by German soldiers.
The young Winton was in 
Prague at the time the borders 
were closed, and the elder Winton 
remembers the day with haunting 
sadness and dubs the incident as 

that of the “last train.
” The elder 
Winton has also kept a scrapbook 
that chronicles his time in Prague 
and the events pertinent to the 
children who were saved and 
those who were not saved.
As the elder Winton grapples 
with guilt over the children who 
weren’t saved, those of the last 
train, attempts are made by family 
and friends to encourage him to 
relinquish his guilt and take pride 
in those lives he had saved. 
But that is easier said than 
done, especially by someone like 
Winton who has such high expec-
tations of himself.
Reminiscent of the young 
Winton’s frustrations with the 
bureaucracies of London and 
Prague, the elder Winton is 
frustrated by the indifference 
shown by the editor of the small 
English town newspaper who 
is unmoved by the potential for 
human interest generated by the 
scrapbook. But the BBC comes 
upon the story of Winton and his 
scrapbook and contacts him to do 
a feature.
BBC interest leads to the scrap-
book being aired on a television 
show called That’s Life. Winton 
is made part of the audience and 
introduced to a woman who was 
one of the children saved. The 
publicity results in a wealth of peo-
ple coming forward who had been 
among the children Winton saved, 
and a second airing is conducted 
on That’s Life in which a multitude 
of those saved by Winton are pres-
ent in the audience.
End of the movie credits indi-
cate an estimate of 6,000 lives 
having resulted from the 669 
lives Winton saved. Winton is 
moved to tears when he meets 
those whom he had saved. Those 
watching One Life are also bound 
to be moved to tears as well. 

John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance 

writer. He contributes frequent essays 

and reviews to MediaNews Group.

One Life is the Story 
of Thousands of Lives

JOHN O’NEILL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 

82 | MARCH 28 • 2024 
J
N

IMDB

