One Life

➤Rated PG
➤Theaters

IN MARCH OF 1938, Nazi Germany rolled into Austria, and later that year, under the guise of pan-Germanism, it took the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. Hitler then began eyeing the rest of the country, and these invasions and annexations caused a surge of refugees, many of them Jewish. As the great European powers sat back and watched, a very few individuals stepped in to help.

Late in 1938, Nicholas Winton traveled from London to Prague to spend a week volunteering with the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia. One Life is based on the true story of Winton’s dedication to finding British foster homes for the thousands of children put at risk by Hitler’s invasions.

The film deftly moves back and forth between the events of 1938 and 1988 when an aged Winton comes to terms with his role in the war. Johnny Flynn plays the young Nicky, full of energy and idealism, and Anthony Hopkins the older Nicky, melancholic and self-effacing despite his heroic efforts to save children 50 years before.

One Life isn’t an action movie, though director James Hawes manages to build plenty of tension, and young Nicky isn’t the typical hero of a war film. He’s a stock­broker, not a soldier, and his ­greatest gift is his ability to do paperwork. This mundane talent, coupled with a sense of justice, is just what’s required to spur the British immigration office into issuing visas for children in need. But early in the film, we see Nicky run out of chocolate as he’s trying to win the trust of the refugee children. The scene foreshadows Nicky’s inability to help everyone, an inability that haunts him despite his achievements.

The tense moments take place in the flashbacks, but the film’s emotional punch comes in the scenes set in 1988. The elderly Nicky doesn’t want accolades for saving Jewish children from the Nazis. He still feels the weight of those he couldn’t save—but he wants the memory of what happened to be preserved. Hopkins delivers another brilliant performance as a regretful man who has dedicated his life to service but can’t escape the specter that he could have done more.

When word of Winton’s achievements came to light, he became something of a celebrity in Britain. Even though I knew how the story would unfold, I still wept freely during the film’s climax. There’s something truly beautiful that happens when an ordinary person uses an ordinary gift for an extraordinary purpose.