The film 'One Life', available on HBO Max, recounts the true story of Nicholas Winton, a young British man who organized the rescue of over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938. Despite the success, Winton carried guilt over the last train that was intercepted, with no survivors. The production, starring Anthony Hopkins, highlights individual courage amid international indifference.
In 1938, as Europe teetered on the brink of World War II with Nazi occupation advancing into the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, Nicholas Winton, then 29 and a stockbroker in London, decided to act. Visiting refugee camps in Czechoslovakia, he was shocked by the vulnerability of Jewish and other minority children in conditions foreshadowing Nazi horrors.
Lacking diplomatic experience, Winton set up a clandestine operation with friends and local organizations. He arranged improvised visas, fundraised, found UK foster families, and secured train tickets. The children traveled on trains crossing Nazi Germany to London, in an effort later known as 'Kindertransport' that saved over 600 lives.
The film 'One Life: The Story of Nicholas Winton', directed by James Hawes and running 1h50min, turns this journey into drama, starring Anthony Hopkins as elderly Winton, Helena Bonham Carter, and Johnny Flynn as young Winton. Available on HBO Max, the production stays true to essential facts.
Yet a tragic episode haunted Winton forever: the last train, carrying hundreds of children, was intercepted by Nazi soldiers at Prague station. No one survived. Winton (1909-2015), who lived to 106, received honors and reunited with adult survivors but insisted he 'hadn't done enough.' For those he saved, gratitude was absolute.
The story underscores Winton's humanitarian drive, free of ideology, contrasting with governments' paralysis against Adolf Hitler's advance. There is no absolute triumph; the film portrays goodness at its limits and enduring guilt in wartime.