'One Life' Is A Worthwhile Tale of Grace
Fascinating and compassionate. One Life has a dynamic plot to it that loses some steam throughout the narrative but not enough to make it fizzle out. Anthony Hopkins helms but does not quite demand the screen the way he previously did. This admittedly is meant to be a more subdued performance from Hopkins. For that, he does a fine job.
Hopkins plays Nicholas (Nicky) Winton, a retired stockbroker who at one time saved the lives of six hundred and sixty-nine children from being taken to concentration camps by the Nazis. The steps to saving the children are fascinating. Nicky would route trains to go from Nazi-occupied Prague to England. However, Nicky can't save the lives of all the children.
Nicky carries the burden of not being able to rescue every child. Although he could only do so much, it doesn't stop Nicky from living with terrible regret. The film is based on Barbera Winton's book, If It's Not Impossible--: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton. As an adaptation and overall film, the movie is procedural in its stylization. There's nothing fancy the film has going for it cinematically. It's as basic of a BBC film as you can get. From the score to the cinematography, the movie screams Sunday night WTTW viewing. Seeing as this is a movie from the UK and BBC, that would make sense.
The performances are very BBC-heavy. Helena Bonham Carter plays a role once more in a BBC film. It's almost become a cliche that HBC is a recurring actress in historical BBC movies. The performances are serviceable but nothing outstanding. Everyone just does their job, but nothing more. The most emotional elevation from the material we get is a sobbing Anthony Hopkins. One Life is a BBC production, so everyone acts very properly.
The film cuts frequently between 1938 Czechoslovakia to the 80s, catching up to Nicky in his old age. The usage of the flashbacks is effective if not a bit dull structurally. We cut from people working desperately to save lives during a time of war to two old men having dinner. The film doesn't have to have constant tension, but a little more pacing in its plot surrounding old Nicky would have benefeted the movie in its middle act. What's going on during World War II to Nicholas' modern life are two different movies converging into one. One-half of the narrative follows a young Nicky (Johnny Flynn) during the height of Hitler's invasion of Europe.
The other half of the plot is about older Nicky (Anthony Hopkins), living with the regret of not saving more. I keep reverting my memory to the closing moments of Schindler's List, where Oscar Schindler collapses on his knees, weeping. He grips Itzhak Stern, telling him he could have saved more. A similar scene plays in this film, although its protagonist, unlike Oscar Schindler, isn't morally ambiguous. He's a good man through and through, unlike Schindler, who displayed little remorse for humanity until he had a change of heart. Anthony Hopkin's side of the plot is intriguing but not gripping until the very end.
It's clear what kind of man Nicholas is when he doesn't boast about the lives he's saved but can't stop thinking of the ones he's lost. What the current-day plotline leads to is something that's irresistibly touching. When Nicky takes his documents from place to place in the hopes of getting not his story but the story of the rescued Czcheckoslavakian refugee children out there, he stumbles across something extraordinary.
One Life is a film about utilizing empathy into action. Nicolas Winton could have comfortably stuck to his job, living off the high earnings a stockbroker must make. Rather than sticking with luxury, Nicky puts it behind in a true act of selflessness. One Life is all heart that breathes past the flames of war.
What Nicky will learn in the film is that it's not about who died but who survived that matters. Nicholas Winton's story is an incredible tale of humanity reaching out to save their fellow kind. The film is neither melodramatic nor underdramatic. It's a confident drama that plays at a slow pace, leading to a stupendous ending. Modest in character and budget, One Life is a film worth seeing.
One Life plays in theaters nationwide on March 15
