The true story of Nicholas Winton's efforts to save over 650 children from the Nazis in Prague, by ensuring they were transported to England and adopted by British families, is remarkable and deserves to be told. The movie is self-assured and clear in its story-telling. The actors are all great. I had quite a few reservations, however. The movie lacks a bit of passion, action and drama. It kind of ticks off the plot points but does not take any risks with deviating from the straight narrative. The families and personalities of the children are not gone into enough. I felt the writers could have shown more imagination in profiling the lives of two or three families in Prague and how they got there, then what happened to the parents staying behind after their kids were sent to London, and what happened to the kids in London. It would have evoked more emotional investment from viewers when the children reunite with Nicky Winters. The scenes with Anthony Hopkins at home can be quite plodding. I am glad the other refugee workers in Prague are shown but it still seems like Nicky gets the bulk of the credit. What about the bravery of the adults that stayed in Prague as war loomed, and those who accompanied the children on the trains? Also at times the film seems to hold back on showing the true violence of the Nazis. It comes across as a little sanitised, although I am sure it is not deliberate. I think that showing the families left in Prague going to the concentration camps may have brought home the dire danger the kids were in. And the scenes with the kids on the ninth train that never made it to London do not have enough tension.
Review of One Life
