Sir Anthony Hopkins in ONE LIFE Opens the New York Jewish Film Festival

In these dire times, remember the mantra that evil flourishes when good people do nothing. As noted looking back to the days when Nazis rose to power in Europe, these words may guide our actions, as they did a true hero, Sir Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who in his ‘20’s took on the plight of refugee Jewish children in occupied Czechoslovakia, attempting to bring as many as possible to foster homes in England. That he brought as many as he did—669—seems a true miracle, but in ONE LIFE, James Hawes’ debut film that opened the New York Jewish Film Festival last week he does just that. Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Winton as an elder gentleman, modest about his “menschlechkeit.” ONE LIFE flashes back to his youth with Johnny Flynn as Winton and his wise, enabling mother played by Helena Bonham Carter devoted to the kindertransport. If you have wondered where some A-list actors have gone—Lena Olin, Marthe Keller, Jonathan Pryce, among them—they are characters here, supporting the cause.

A producer, Joanna Laurie, introduced the film on the festival’s opening night. While many have asked to make a film about Winton, she told the rapt crowd, his daughter and biographer Barbara Winton agreed to this production, saying that she thought Anthony Hopkins should play her father. Yeah, right? No one believed he would say yes, but indeed he did, bringing his prodigious talents to a role well suited to Winton’s elegant modesty. Laurie promised a surprise, which came when during the Q&A she asked members of the opening night audience to stand if they owed their lives to Nicholas Winton. Several families stood up, in a glorious SCHINDLER’S LIST moment that brought home the important theme: an ordinary citizen dared to act--the message illuminated in this thrilling film.

ONE LIFE is set to open theatrically soon. The festival goes on with many exemplary films. While I only sampled a few: I particularly recommend Laura Bialis’ portrait, VISHNIAC, about scientist/ photographer Roman Vishniac, a surprisingly complicated figure who documented pre-Holocaust Jewish life, “a disappearing world;” THE SHADOW OF THE DAY, Giuseppe Piccione’s CASABLANCA-like love story from Italy; and, the Canadian documentary short CROSSING THE RIVER, directed by Allan Novak, about the oldest living survivor siblings—including his mother. Defying all historic record, this feisty family in their 100s, claims to owe their survival to Stalin.