One Life is the story of Kindertransport hero Nicholas Winton (Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn), who helped rescue hundreds of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia then didn’t bother telling anyone about it. 

Winton’s role in evacuating 669 children from Prague to London is an important Story, particularly in an era of surging antisemitism and open hostility towards refugees. And One Life tells it in an efficient manner that robs the tale of some of its power. This is partly a problem of pacing, rushing through the extraordinary events of 1939, and spending ages on the undramatic domesticity of 50 years later.

The film glosses over the context and detail at the heart of the story, neglecting to explore Winton’s motivations or the cost of separating children from their parents. The movie is more interested in his later life, but unfortunately meeting Elisabeth Maxwell and appearing on That’s Life! are not particularly cinematic events. It is however the best press the Maxwell family have had in quite some time.

This is very much a BBC film, reflected in its televisual presentation, monotonous score and montages of people stuffing envelopes while Anthony Hopkins gazes regretfully out of windows. Sadly this sanitises the Nazi occupation in a way that diminishes the stakes and emotional impact, despite the best efforts of Hopkins (in fine form at 86), Flynn and Helena Bonham Carter as Winton’s firecracker mother.

While admirable in its aims and subject, One Life is lopsided and less moving than the real That’s Life! clips available, though it does have the distinction of being the first (and hopefully last) time Esther Rantzen is a plot point in a feature film.