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IIn the late 1930s, just before the outbreak of World War II, a young British stockbroker named Nicholas Winton (played here by Johnny Flynn and later by Anthony Hopkins) travels to Czechoslovakia to discover the humanitarian crisis and its I visited Czechoslovakia to see for myself. Panic grows among the country’s Jewish exile community. He was so shocked to witness that, with the help of his indomitable mother Babette (Helena Bonham Carter), he helped save 669 children, most of them Jewish. , this feat later became known as “The Englishman”. Schindler.”
This is a moving story, and it is impossible to watch it without considering Britain’s current reluctance to provide shelter to those who need it most. Winton, who was eventually knighted for his actions, is undoubtedly a hero worthy of praise. And this solid workmanship is the first feature by James Hawes (best known for his television work). slow horse and snowpiercer) is exactly that, dutifully hitting all the expected emotional beats and piggybacking on two famous episodes of the TV show. Its the life! The tear-jerking crescendo of 1988’s ending.
But while Winton’s accomplishments and dedication were amazing, his filmmaking here was less so.There’s very little to configure one life Aside from the very crowded field of films that explore equally admirable stories of World War II heroics. And since this story’s most obvious reference points include Mark Jonathan Harris’s excellent Oscar-winning documentary, Into the Arms of a Stranger: A Story of Kindergarten Transportfeaturing the real-life Winton and Steven Spielberg’s undisputed masterpiece. schindler’s list, the competition is tough.That’s not the case one life Poorly made. Rather, it’s that the script is too predictable and the storytelling is too clever to earn its place among the top tier of World War II films.
The film cuts between two important periods in Winton’s life. His first work follows him as a young idealist who takes time off from his job in the city to travel to Prague in the late 1930s. There he meets Doreen Wariner (Romola Garai). She’s a snappy, talented British economist turned humanitarian who, from what we see here, seems more than worthy of her own movie. A key member of the British Refugee Committee from Czechoslovakia, Wariner is imperturbable, moving, clean-haired and irreverently clicking his heels as he brazenly organizes a clandestine movement of Jewish refugees under the noses of the Nazis. is in charge. Garai is great – I actually wish there was more of her in the movie. Bonham Carter is equally excellent as the glamorous and tenacious Babette Winton. She is a woman who can conjure miracles from the pen-pushers of the British government who frown upon her simply by donning her fur coat and withered expression.
![Romola Garai as Doreen Warriner.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/eff44f16b9e1b98de947acff862718d914256883/0_0_6887_4592/master/6887.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none)
In the later sections, set in the 1980s, Nicholas Winton retires and, at the behest of his wife Grete (Lena Olin), begins cleaning out the box files he has accumulated over a lifetime from the comfort of his Maidenhead home. Full of details of various philanthropic activities. Inside was a battered briefcase containing the names and photos of the children he had orchestrated to flee Prague. Winton is not a self-trumpeting man, but he understands that this is an archive of historical importance. After several failed attempts, he meets Elizabeth Maxwell, wife of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, and the story of Winton’s great contribution to Kindertransfer is picked up by the media.
Hawes takes a distinctive visual approach to each era. The camerawork of the 1930s has a more rickety, hand-held sense of urgency. The color palette favors cold, eerie grays, especially in the Prague section. In contrast, 1980s cameras are more stable, more contemplative, and the tones are warmer and friendlier. But what unites these two sections of her is the empathetic kinship between Winton’s character and her two leading performances. Flynn and Hopkins are not strikingly similar, but their physical and vocal mannerisms make them recognizable as the same person (every time they walk through a door, whether in Hampstead in the 1930s or Maidenhead in the 1980s). announces “Home!”).
Both are great, but Flynn probably has the easier job of leading the more traditionally exciting parts of the story. Hopkins, on the other hand, gives an unusually understated performance as he plods around the screen, gathering strength through stealth and ending up tearing our hearts out in scenes of the movie. Its the life! TV studio.
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