Well, director James Hawes, together with screenwriters Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, have done a pretty good job with One Life, a film about Sir Nicholas Winton and his central involvement in organising the evacuation of – predominantly, but not only – Jewish children from Prague in 1939.
I’ve seen the film condemned as “workmanlike”. And that it doesn’t engage enough with what happened to those who were rescued – or remember those involved in the rescues besides Winton.
But having now watched it, this is nonsense. Yes, it is a very straightforward take on the story. Nothing wrong with that – and it is very clear that Winton himself was not the only one involved in rescuing over 660 children. Yet he played an absolutely crucial role in that.
In terms of the later stories of the children rescued from the Prague refugee camps and those told, via That’s Life in 1988, we start to learn of these.
It’s important history and utterly relevant today – but what elevates this as a film are the performances. Johnny Flynn is superb as the young Winton. Helena Bonham Carter, as Winton’s mother, is in absolutely stonking form.
And then there are the recreations of the That's Life! episodes. As Winton's wife, Grete, observes, it's a 'silly' TV show. Yet it created an iconic British TV moment when bringing Winton's story to the wider public – and reuniting him with some of those he had been involved in saving, without any silliness and with all seriousness. Which itself helped propel the story.
Samantha Spiro, as the show's host Esther Rantzen, does an extraordinary job here, portraying a major media figure, who is still very much with us.
And then there is Anthony Hopkins as the older Winton. His performance really gives the film the gravitas and power it needs. He can say so much more in a silence than most actors can, and captures Winton’s sense of guilt at those who couldn’t be saved in a way that is quietly explosive.
Go see it. And, as I did, weep. For the past, for the present and for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment