One Life's incredible true story, told by the survivors (2024)

One Life is now out in US cinemas, following its earlier January release in the UK (where you can now rent or buy the movie digitally).

The movie tells a lesser-known true story from World War II centred on Nicholas Winton who risked his life to help transport Jewish children out of Prague, then Czechoslovakia. In advance of the full Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, Winton rescued 669 children.

Anthony Hopkins plays the older version of Winton and Johnny Flynn plays the younger version when the movie flashes back to what happened during the war.

As with so many historical dramas, liberties are often taken with the truth, even truths as extraordinary as this one. Speaking to two of the surviving 'kinder', the children rescued by Winton, we delve into the story as it happened and why telling it now is so important.

One Life true story

The movie tells the story of both younger and older Winton at the same time. We see young Winton arrive in Prague, determined to help but unsure how to do so.

While his fellow Brits are helping political dissidents escape, Winton is moved by the thousands of children he sees in the refugee camps. In order to rescue them, he begins the arduous process of getting their information, which requires him to convince a Rabbi that he is trustworthy.

With the help of his mother (played by Helena Bonham Carter), they convince the government to begin issuing visas. Back in Prague, however, things grow more and more tense as the Nazis eventually take over and forcibly stop the transport.

Survivor Vera Schaufeld told Digital Spy that this scene in particular was perfectly done.

"When the children got on the train, and then because England had just gone to war, all those children were being taken off the train — that was completely right, and how it happened. And it's just so awful, and so well done in the film."

Survivor Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines was also glad that this scene, as harrowing as it was, made it into the film.

"It does bring to light that there was this train that never left. I was lucky because I was on the last train [that made it out]. And if it wasn't for Nicholas Winton, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you," she told Digital Spy.

In the 1980s, Hopkins' older Winton is a seemingly unremarkable man, who still dedicates his time to charity collections for refugees.

His wife urges him to go through his belongings and finally do something meaningful with the briefcase that contains all the information about the kinder in the refugee camps — survivors and victims alike.

Through his friend Martin Blake (Jonathan Pryce), he's put in touch with an archivist who realises the true value of the folder. She arranges for the information to be publicly broadcast on a show called That's Life!, hosted by Esther Rantzen, to which Winton is invited.

Winton believes he's being invited to assist with production but is ushered into the audience, where he's surprised by one of the children he helped save. Having felt ambushed, Winton retreats slightly.

However, he eventually is convinced to return to a taping of a second episode — accompanied by his wife — where it's revealed that the audience is full of the children he rescued. They stand up row by row and thank Winton.

Schaufeld confirmed that this seemingly dramatised moment was, in fact, true: "I went to that [episode], where Rantzen had us all sitting, and I sat in the row behind Nicholas, and we all stood up, and it was a very moving moment."

Nicholas Winton did remain in touch with the kinder that he rescued. Lady Grenfell-Baines explained: "I saw him every year and went to all his birthday parties and he came and stayed with me."

For those whose families didn't survive, "to them, Nicholas Winton represented the only live contact they had with their past", she said.

"He became a sort of father figure, a grandfather figure, and he himself talks at one point saying, 'Thinking about it, I've now got a family of fifteen hundred'."

One moment that didn't make it into the movie, according to Lady Grenfell-Baines, is that there were complaints to Winton that he was placing Jewish children in Christian homes. "His answer was, 'Would you rather have a dead two or a live two?' That's how he answered them," she explained.

While One Life itself ends on a happy note, both Schaufeld and Grenfell-Baines were sombre when asked what it was about the movie that made it feel urgent now, and not only because Holocaust denial is growing.

"As you say, it's becoming a myth. Take it from me, it was no myth. And I was one of the lucky ones," Lady Grenfell-Baines said.

"I think the point of the film," Lady Grenfell-Baines added, "is to show what one person can do it. Nothing is impossible if it's possible. You're looking at an ordinary man who has done the most extraordinary things. I think the word 'altruism' figures largely in the whole story of Nicholas Winton."

"The world has learned so little, and things keep going on. It also matters to recognise that there have been further genocides since then," Schaufield says.

"Winton said to me, that you have to have empathy with people in order to learn anything. I think the people who see the film may have more empathy for other refugees."

One Life is out now in US cinemas and is available to buy or rent in the UK from Prime Video, iTunes, Microsoft Store and more.