At the moment the movie ‘One Life’ honouring Nicholas "Nicky" Winton’s heroic actions before the start of WW2, where he saved 669 children from Nazi clutches, is available to see in cinemas now.  

 

This is a one hour and fifty minute film, based on the book ‘If It's Not Impossible … The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton’ by Barbara Winton - his daughter. Anthony Hopkins plays Nicky Winton in the movie and perfectly encapsulates his humility and his regret of those who he was unable to save.

 

The movie is set approximately fifty years after he saved several hundred (predominantly Jewish) children. In the movie Nicholas Winton reminisces and is still plagued by the memories of numerous children he was unable to get onto the trains. The audience is transported back in time to a younger version of Winton, played by Johnny Flynn, and we see his entire unrelenting process he and others carried out. These people were his mother Babette (Helena Bonham Carter) and members of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia - Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai). We see his  full fledged hard work to save as many children as possible from the terrible conditions and possibilities, managing to get 8 trains of children. Unfortunately the ninth (last train) with about 250 children was halted at the platform, just as it was about to leave due to the beginning of the war. This is a huge point of haunting for Winton, but throughout the movie he relives his past and this moment. He also meets and reconnects with the lives he's saved, celebrating life, freedom and hope. 

 

As well as this powerful movie being released the National Portrait Gallery has augmented it with a series of 11 portraits of children who were saved by Winton and his team through the Czech Kindertransport. These were photographed by Simon Hill and are able to be seen on the National Portrait Gallery website. There are also filmed testimonies of the survivors to be viewed as well and to extend your knowledge and stories on the different experiences of WW2. 

 

Ilan, who watched the movie ‘One Life’ said ‘It opened my eyes to how heroic Winton actually was and how one man can make such an impact’. This shows that if you will and want it no matter how small your team or project is, anything is possible. Therefore if you have not already experienced this movie, Nicholas Winton’s or the stories of ‘Nicky’s Children’ I urge you to watch, read or listen to them and be able to continue to honour Winton’s astonishing work and celebrate the many lives he saved.