To see at the cinema: Life with Anthony Hopkins… What true story is this moving film based on?

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Prague, 1938. As the city is on the brink of falling to the Nazis, a London banker will do anything to save hundreds of children who face certain death in concentration camps. At the risk of his life, Nicholas Winton will organize the convoys to England, where 669 Jewish children will find shelter.

This true story, which remained unknown for decades, was revealed to the whole world when in 1988 a British program invited Nicholas to appear. He has no idea that there are children in the audience – now adults – who have survived thanks to him…

Winton’s List

“He who saves life saves humanity”Poster for James Hawes’ feature film, using lines from one of the characters. If we follow this saying, what can we say about the heroic actions of Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Jewish children from the dire fate that awaited them at the dawn of World War II?

It was this true story that earned him his nickname “British Schindler”, which Une vie tells. facts which were comparatively little known on this side of the Channel, and which were not so well known in Great Britain. until 1988.

When the entertainment show “This is life!” He is invited twice to tell his story to the general public and to show documents that prove his heroic deed. But also surprise him.

For the first time, his neighbor is none other than one of the children whose name and photo appear in the book, which contains a list of his survivors, the destinations they took after leaving Prague, and the letters they received. The second gear is even more mobile.

Is there anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to Nicholas Winton?asks presenter Ester Rantsen. “If so, can you get up?” And that’s how the main stakeholder sees the movement of each of the viewers around him, a sequence that A Life portrays with powerful emotional force. And some real survivors among the rest.

That’s what the end credits show, as well as the fact that 6,000 people are alive today thanks to the bravery of Sir Nicholas Winton, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II after revealing his story and who died on 1 July 2015. at the age of 106.

From the director of Doctor Who

Alternating between the past (where the character is played by Johnny Flynn) and the present, One Life is stronger in its second half, where the former is more academic, with a sense of urgency we feel less than expected. The comparison is all the more inevitable because, aided by the talents of Anthony Hopkins, the piece developed in 1988 is often overwhelming.

Especially in today’s context, where children are the first victims of armed conflicts in all parts of the world. News that makes Sir Nicholas Winton’s story even more incredible and heroic, and which James Hawes’ film (the author of two of the most outrageous episodes of the first season of Dr. House, already set during World War II) pays homage to.