There’s no need to be a movie expert to realise that productions about the Second World War are consistently among the highest grossing in the industry. When you think about how many individuals were affected by the historical event, it’s no surprise that new perspectives and tales keep emerging. According to Deadline, the upcoming war film One Life will be based on the actual story of a British man who helped save hundreds of children when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. The film is inspired by the true story of stockbroker Nicholas Winton, who led a risky expedition with little odds of success, yet succeeded in rescuing 699 children who would have been killed by the Nazis otherwise.
The Jewish Talmud has a similar claim, suggesting that if you rescue only one life, you would have saved the world. So, Winton did a lot of saving in the early 1940s. In the parts of the film that will feature Nicholas as a child, Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter) is cast as his mother, Babi Winton. Johnny Flynn is in talks to play the younger Winton (Clouds of Sils Maria). Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins (The Father) co-stars with Lena Olin (Hunters) as Winton’s wife Grete, Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones), Ramola Garai (Becoming Elizabeth), and Alex Sharp (The Trial of the Chicago 7) as agents who assist in relocating a large number of children to safety. Barbara Winton, the main character’s daughter, wrote the book If It’s Not Impossible…The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, which the film is based on. James Hawes, who directed “Hated in the Nation” (one of the best episodes of Black Mirror), will oversee One Life. The whole first season of the Apple TV+ thriller series Slow Horses was directed by him as well. Hawes is about to make his directorial debut with the film One Life.
Winton, who has been called “the British Oskar Schindler,” was the subject of a BBC That’s Life show from 1998 that has lately gone viral due to its compelling narrative. Winton was taken aback by the number of individuals in the crowd who had been personally impacted by the man’s acts.