One Life Review | Anthony Hopkins Makes Up for Missed Opportunities in Wartime Biopic

Summary

• Good performances, especially from Anthony Hopkins, elevate this inspiring wartime film about human heroism.
• One Life is an important story of bravery and altruism during World War II that deserves to be remembered, even if it pales in comparison to better films.
• While it misses the opportunity to emotionally floor its audience or stimulate them more than your average prestige biopic, One Life is a timely and inspiring film about the power of compassion in difficult circumstances.

There are great war films which study the combat itself, usually with elaborate action sequences, and then there are war films which study the unique breed of heroism and courage that can develop in wartime — from 1959’s The Diary of Anne Frank to 1993’s Schindler’s List. Even the all-time classic, Casablanca, was essentially about finding the courage to be a humanitarian when it’s so much easier to do nothing. These films take us away from the battlefields of France and mainland Europe, redirecting our focus onto the silent saviors who spearheaded these covert operations.

It is this type of integral figure — who traditionally shied away from the hero-encrusted limelight — that is the subject of James Hawes’ feature debut, One Life. Aptly nicknamed the “English Schindler” by the British press, Nicholas Winton orchestrated the operation now referred to as Kindertransport, the deliverance of over 600 Czechoslovakian Jewish children from imminent Nazi invasion. However, unlike the German enamelware manufacturer, Nicholas Winton’s story was an unknown commodity among historians, yet still equally ambitious and daringly executed.

A Hero Reflects on the War

One Life

Release Date January 1, 2024

Director James Hawes

Runtime 1hr 50min

Pros

• Good performances, but a masterful one from Anthony Hopkins.
• An important story that needs to be remembered, especially in our world today.
• An admirable commitment to historical accuracy.

Cons

• Has a lack of emotional depth sometimes, and lacks the power of better wartime films.
• It seems more like a TV movie, though the visuals work in this case.

Hopping between tranquil, perennially overcast 1980s Britain and the smoggy backdrop of wartime Prague and London, One Life follows Winton as a retired septuagenarian, sifting through old boxes before stumbling on a relic of yesteryear that has still very much lived in his memory for over four decades: a scrapbook containing the details of hundreds of Jewish Czech children saved by him and a small assortment of altruistic others. Flitting between the pensioner Winton (Anthony Hopkins in one of his best performances) and the then-30-year-old Winton (Johnny Flynn), this unassuming picture revisits this story lost in the archives of memory.

The self-proclaimed “army of the ordinary,” equipped with little more than a dogged will to grant a persecuted race safe passage, embarked on a journey of extraordinary benevolence during World War II, saving 669 people, mostly Jewish children. Winton never shared his part of the story until his wife discovered a scrapbook in his attic; eventually, he went on the British television show That’s Life! to share his story in 1988. Winton sat among the studio audience, unknowingly surrounded by many of the people he saved some 40 years prior. The film uses this as a framing device for the audience to explore the events he recounts.

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This Powerful Story Misses an Opportunity

Warner Bros.

There is a television film aesthetic to One Life, yet it’s somehow by no means to its detriment. The understated cinematography and production design, with its dimly lit, musty offices and its sooty, atmospheric railway stations, provide the perfect canvas for screenwriters Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake to showcase this remarkable tale. It’s a harrowing story of bravery and selflessness, directed by Hawes in a succinct and sometimes powerful manner.

While their commitment to factual legitimacy is admirable compared to many dramatizations, the directness of their approach at times lacks flavor, mostly in the flashback. The film occasionally fails to add emotive weight to this story, and instead methodically rehashes some events. The 1988 sequences are great, however. Of course, they’re heightened by Hopkins, but they also feature a deeper, more personal exploration into the man himself and his very human melancholy and regret over not being able to have done more. This is the sadness heroes feel.

Anthony Hopkins Throws His Hat Into the Oscar Ring

Warner Bros.

Johnny Flynn, an actor who became a name on the independent film circuit in the UK following his tremendous display in 2017’s Beast, does a sterling job as the slightly sheepish young banker, exposed to the utter perils of an antisemitic, fascist regime. Yet, it’s Anthony Hopkins’ sensitive portrayal as the-aged pensioner that is what ultimately elevates One Life into more of an emotionally fulfilling experience.

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The Silence of the Lambs star has arguably been at his best in this late stage of his career (between this, The Father, Armageddon Time, and this year’s Freud’s Last Session). Hopkins is commanding in every facial expression, every bat of an eyelid, and every utterance. With all his seasoned experience and capacity to conduct a film for his own symphony, the actor once again emphatically demonstrates that he’s in Academy Award-winning territory, and at the ripe old age of 86, that isn’t something to be scoffed at.

As a whole, though, One Life fails to make the jump from a good film to a great one. Half of the film is emotionally beautiful and has a great performance, but One Life is not the kind of ethically, artistically, and intellectually stimulating film that might make the best-of lists. What it is, however, is a movie for people who cherish an old-fashioned tale of goodwill and compassion in the toughest, most adverse of circumstances. Today, when war is waging all over the world and factions of society are being persecuted, the story of Nicholas Winton is both timely and inspiring, and will likely resonate with many.

One Life is currently in theaters. You can watch the trailer below:

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