One Life
12A
Why watch?
“In a climate of closing borders and growing anti-refugee rhetoric, One Life is a timely reminder of how urgent and essential it is to offer a safe haven to those in need.”
Wendy,
Head of Cinema
Nicky visited Prague in December 1938 and found families who had fled the rise of the Nazis in Germany and Austria, living in desperate conditions with little or no shelter and food, and under threat of Nazi invasion. He immediately realised it was a race against time. How many children could he and the team rescue before the borders closed?
Fifty years later, it’s 1988 and Nicky lives haunted by the fate of the children he wasn’t able to bring to safety in England; always blaming himself for not doing more. It’s not until a live BBC television show, ‘That’s Life’, surprises him by introducing him to some surviving children – now adults – that he finally begins to come to terms with the guilt and grief he had carried for five decades.
Details
“With a quality cast (which also includes Lena Olin as Winton’s wife and Jonathan Pryce as his friend), this is a finely crafted film that unfolds with great care, building towards a cathartic climax.”
Total Film
“The film does justice to this overwhelmingly moving event in British public life in a quietly affecting drama.”
The Guardian
“An urgent reminder of the importance of individual action at a time when the world refugee crisis is at a scale not seen since the Second World War.”
Variety
