ONE LIFE had been in pre-production for many years before finally premiering now in 2024. When I spoke with its director, James Hawes, via Zoom on March 13, 2024, I couldn’t help but ask him if he thought there was some sort of synchronicity at work with the timing. The story of Nicholas Winton, a British banker who saved the lives of 669 Czechoslovakian children from the invading Nazi army, has a resonance with what is happening today that is tragic. Also tragic was the way the story of what he had done did not become public until very late in his life, but for reasons that Hawes thinks are in perfect keeping with who Nicky was.

The film stars Anthony Hopkins as the older Nicky, Johnny Flynn as the younger Nicky, Jonathan Pryce, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Matilda Thorpe, Tim Steed, and Helena Bonham Carter as Nicky’s formidable mother who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Hawes directed from a script by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, based on the book by Nicky’s daughter, Barbara, One Life: The True Story of Sir Nicholas Winton. His previous work includes television’s BLACK MIRROR, SLOW HORSES, SNOWPIERCER, and PENNY DREADFUL.