Anthony Hopkins plays, in his old age, the stockbroker Nicholas Winton who managed to save from certain death 669 Czech children captured during the war, whom he took refuge in Great Britain.
Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn embody, one in old age and the other in youth, two notable moments in the life of a common man, who, in truth, was an unusual man.. Only he, in his humility, and in the pain of not having done enough, considered himself just a person like so many, and even more so, a failure. Such, the story told in “Ties of life” (One Life)a cleanly emotional, simple, well-made and very well-acted work.
The story is true, and occurred almost as it is now told. In 1938 Hitler had annexed Austria and was expelling the Czechs from Sudetenland. These poor people, many of Jewish origin, began to pile up in refugee camps near Prague. The official representative lord Walter Runciman (the same as the Roca-Runciman Meat Pact, 1933, denounced by Lisandro de la Torre) he intervened without success. The little help was left in the hands of British citizens who took pity on the situation. One of them, the young stockbroker Nicholas Wintonput together with a handful of people an entire rescue plan through Poland and the North Sea through which 669 children were able to escape from danger, reach the islands, be received for adoption by English families and start another life. That’s easy to say. It wasn’t easy at all. But those creatures could live,
The War prevented Winton from saving all the children he had intended. He then joined the Royal Air Force, the RAF, but the bitterness for the children who were left at the mercy of the Nazis accompanied him for life. Incidentally, a 12-year-old boy who was among those saved also joined the 17 to the RAF, Karel Reiszwho after the War dedicated himself to cinema and was a world-famous director. Others of those boys came to shine in the sciences, the arts, teaching, and business, they had children, and grandchildren. Without help, they would have ended up in Auschwitz.
So far, the epic and risky adventure of young Winton, who was on the verge of being forgotten. Only fifty years later, in 1988, and almost by chance, that story began to be known, and the interviews and tributes also began. The man was 105 years old and they continued to pay tributes to him. There is a statue of him with two children at the Prague train station.. There is a book by her daughter Barbara, a handful of documentaries, and the record of a special night of the BBC’s “That’s Life” program, which can be seen on YouTube, but it is better, much better, to see its recreation on “Ties of life”. Pure emotion.
Address, James Hawes, one of those artisans who do not aim to shine, but rather to make others shine. interpreters, Anthony Hopkinswho agrees with Winton in some typically English gestures, as can be seen in old records, Johnny Flynnwhich fits very well with the voice and expression of Hopkins, the venerable Lena Olin like the old man’s Czech wife, Helena Bonham Carterthe mother, and Jonathan Pryce, Alex Sharp (friends Martin Blake and Trevor Chadwick), Romola Garai (economist Doreen Warriner), Franziska Polakova (girl Vera Gissinková, later a writer), Samantha Spiro (the eternal host of “That’s Life”, Esther Rantzen).
“Ties of life” (One Life, Great Britain-Germany, 2023). Dir.: James Hawes; Starring: Johnny Flynn, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Benham Carter, Lena Olin.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
