One Life(2024)

Plot Summary

• In 1938, 29-year-old London stockbroker Nicholas Winton travels to Czechoslovakia, shortly after the Munich Agreement is signed. There, he meets refugees from Germany and Austria, who are living in dire conditions due to the rise of the Nazis. Many of these families are trapped in refugee camps in Prague, facing food shortages and the threat of a Nazi invasion. Winton is introduced to Doreen Warriner, head of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC).Shocked by the suffering he witnesses, Winton decides to take matters into his own hands and save as many children as possible. With the support of his mother, Babette-herself a German-Jewish migrant and converted Anglican-he navigates bureaucratic obstacles, raises funds, and finds foster homes in the UK for the children, many of whom are at immediate risk of being deported. As time runs out, Winton works against the clock, unsure how long the borders will remain open before the Nazi invasion.Fifty years later, in 1988, Winton, now 79, is cleaning out his office at the request of his wife, Grete. While sorting through old documents, he comes across his records from his time with the BCRC, containing lists and photographs of the children he helped save. He feels guilty for not rescuing more, but his memories of that time linger.While having lunch with his friend Martin, Winton considers what to do with his scrapbook of documents. Though he briefly contemplates donating them to a Holocaust museum, he ultimately decides against it, wanting to draw attention to the current refugee crisis instead.The documents end up in the hands of the BBC's That's Life! production team, leading to Winton being invited to appear on the show. He is seated in the audience, unaware that the program plans a surprise reunion. In a moving moment, several of the children Winton helped save are invited onto the show to meet him.The public's reaction to the broadcast is overwhelming, and Winton is invited back for another appearance. This time, he and his wife are shown that most of the audience owes their lives to his courageous actions. By the time of the broadcast, more than 6,000 people are alive because of Winton's efforts.

Storyline

• The true story of Sir Nicholas 'Nicky' Winton, a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued 669 predominantly Jewish children from the Nazis. 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 realized 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.