ONE LIFE : Tuesday 2nd January 2024.

I saw the PG Rated 'ONE LIFE' earlier this week, and this British biographical drama film is Directed by James Hawes in his feature film debut, although he has been Directing both single and multiple episodes of TV series for a number of years taking in the likes of 'Doctor Who', 'Merlin', 'Penny Dreadful', 'Black Mirror', 'The Alienist', 'Snowpiercer' and 'Slow Horses' most recently. This film is based on the book 'If It’s Not Impossible…The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton' by Barbara Winton, and it had its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9th September last year, was released in the UK on 1st January, and has garnered generally favourable critical reviews.

The film opens up in the suburbs of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England in 1987 with an ageing Nicholas Winton (Anthony Hopkins) pulling up to his house in h car and walking into his home with two handfuls of charity collection boxes, which he empties on the kitchen bench and begins sorting and counting the coin donations. He is interrupted by his wife Grete (Lena Olin) who chastises him for the amount of storage boxes, files and paraphernalia he has stacked up in the lounge room and his home office. She once again reminds him that after fifty years it is time he has a clean out and a de-clutter, especially considering that his pregnant daughter is expected home for Christmas and that they'll need the room. In his office, she pulls on a drawer of his desk to reveal a leather briefcase with the initials T.C. in faded gold lettering, saying that it is about time too that he did something about that, to which he promptly closes the drawer.

We then flashback to 1938 and a young Nicholas Winton (Johnny Flynn) is working as a stockbroker in London, but is wracked by a sense of duty to lend whatever support and aid he can to the groups of largely Jewish children in the recently Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, just before the beginning of WWII. He visits Prague for a week, having been allowed time off work to do so, to see first hand the extent of the task he has vowed to undertake. There he meets Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp), Martin Blake (Ziggy Heath) and Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia. Shocked by the what he witnessed in Prague in the makeshift camps housing countless displaced men, women and children, he telegrams his office to say he needs more time. 

Winton then calls his mother Babi Winton (Helena Bonham Carter) in London to enlist her assistance in lobbying the House of Commons to approve the entry of child refugees. Eventually, the House agrees upon the provision that younger than 17 years of age are permitted entry, provided they had a place to stay, a warranty of £50 was deposited per person for their eventual return to their own country, plus a handful of other conditions, and that all the necessary accompanying paperwork was in order. 

Back in 1987 and Grete is off on a short break to Europe, leaving Nicholas at home to begin the arduous task of clearing and de-cluttering their lounge room and study, which he does successfully, by burning many of the storage boxes in his back garden, much to Grete's very pleasant surprise when she arrives back home. On his desk rests the leather briefcase which it is revealed contains a scrapbook containing photographs and lists of the children, including their parents' names and the names and addresses of the families that took them in. Nicholas has lunch with Martin Blake (Jonathan Pryce) who says that the scrapbook is testimony to his determination in bringing back so many children and that he has a connection with Robert Maxwell who would be very interested in sighting it. And so Nicholas receives a call from Elisabeth Maxwell (Marthe Keller), a Holocaust researcher and wife of media magnate Robert Maxwell, and is stunned to learn that Winton was involved in the rescue and relocation of 669 children from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938/39. 

Back in early 1939 Winton is in London with Babi waiting track side for the arrival of trainloads of children over the course of several months with eight trains successfully making the journey across to London, and being successfully relocated with foster parents. However, the ninth train bringing 250 children across was scheduled to leave Prague on 1st September 1939, but was unable to depart, with Hitler's invasion of Poland on the same day the Second World War had begun. What became of those 250 children remains unknown but in all likelihood they perished in the Nazi concentration camps. 

Thanks to Robert Maxwell, the wider world found out about his work in February 1988 during an episode of the BBC television programme 'That's Life!' when he was invited as a member of the audience. At one point, Winton's scrapbook was shown and his achievements were explained. The host of the programme, Esther Rantzen (Samantha Spiro), introduced Winton to children he had helped to rescue live on air. 

In a follow-up programme of 'That's Life!' a week later at which Winton was again in the audience with his wife by his side this time, Rantzen asked whether anybody in the audience was among the children who owed their lives to Winton, and if so, to stand. At which, the entire audience rose to its feet surrounding Winton and applauded, with those closest embracing him. 

In a closing scene Nicholas and Grete are seen entertaining a family of a now adult rescued child and her family including several grandchildren at their home as they all make their way down to his swimming pool. In the closing credits actual footage of those now adult refugees is seen, together with Winton who in the 1983 Birthday Honours, was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), and in the 2003 New Year Honours, he was knighted for services to humanity, in recognition of his work on the Czech Kindertransport. He died in 2015 at the age of 106.

With 'One Life' here first time feature film Director James Hawes has delivered us a film that will resonate with WWII historians and those being introduced to the story of Nicholas Winton for the first time. This story of how a small group of people made such an impactful difference to the lives of 669 children, and how Winton only gained recognition for his efforts some fifty years after the fact is a story that needed to be told, and in weaving the timelines between 1938/39 and 1987/88 Director Hawes has eeked out a thought provoking and emotional biographical drama, paired with strong performances from Hopkins, Bonham Carter and Flynn that is unlikely to leave barely a dry eye in the house by the time the end credits roll.

'One Life' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 28th July 2016.

Last week for a bit of fun I counted up to 30 using movie titles with numbers in their title from 'Zero Dark Thirty' to '30 Days of Night'. This week, continuing in that same vein I've listed those upto 100. This is just my view of the cinematic universe and there'll be those I've missed and plenty more too besides those I have given below. See what you think?

• '31 North 62 East' - 2009 - Directed by Tristan Loraine, starring John Rhys-Davies,
• 'Miracle on 34th Street' - 1947 - Directed by George Seaton, starring Maureen O'Hara,
• '35 Up' - 1991 - Directed by Michael Apted, starring Michael Apted,
• 'The 39 Steps' - 1935 - Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat,
• 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' - 2005 - Directed by Judd Apatow, starring Steve Carell,
• '42' - 2013 - Directed by Brian Helgeland, starring Harrison Ford,
• 'Movie 43' - 2013 - Directed by Peter Farrelly amongst others and starring a Who's Who of Hollywood's A-listers,
• '44 Inch Chest' - 2010 - Directed by Malcolm Venville, starring Ray Winstone,
• '47 Ronin' - 2013 - Directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves,
• '48 Hours' - 1982 - Directed by Walter Hill, starring Eddie Murphy,
• 'Ladder 49' - 2004 - Directed by Jay Russell, starring John Travolta,
• '50 First Dates' - 2004 - Directed by Peter Segal, starring Adam Sandler,
• 'Planet 51' - 2009 - Directed by Jorge Blanco, starring Dwayne Johnson,
• '52 Pick-Up' - 1986 - Directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Roy Schneider,
• '54' - 1998 - Directed by Mark Christopher, starring Ryan Philippe,
• '55 Days at Peking' - 1963 - Directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Charlton Heston, 
• 'Passenger 57' - 1992 - Directed by Kevin Hooks, starring Wesley Snipes,
• 'Gone in 60 Seconds' - 2000 - Directed by Dominic Sena, starring Nicolas Cage,
• '61*' - 2001 - Directed by Billy Crystal, starring Barry Pepper,
• 'Roadhouse 66' - 1984 - Directed by John Mark Robinson, starring Willem Dafoe,
• ''71' - 2015 - Directed by Yann Demange, starring Jack O'Connell,
• 'Winchester '73' - 1950 - Directed by Anthony Mann, starring James Stewart,
• 'Around the World in 80 Days' - 1956 - Directed by Michael Anderson, starring David Niven,
• '84 Charing Cross Road' - 1987 - Directed by David Jones, starring Anthony Hopkins,
• '88 Minutes' - 2008 - Directed by Jon Avnet, starring Al Pacino, 
• 'United 93' - 2006 - Directed by Paul Greengrass, starring Christian Clemenson,
• '99 Homes' - 2015 - Directed by Ramin Bahrani, starring Michael Shannon,
• '100 Rifles' - 1969 - Directed by Tom Gries, starring Raquel Welch.

All that said, and turning to more current affairs, there are four new films to grace our cinema screens in the week ahead kicking off with the fifth instalment in this popular action spy franchise that sees a return to form for this pairing of Actor and Director for a third outing, as this character comes in from the cold after an absence of ten years still seeking answers whilst thwarting enemies on both sides of the law. Then there is a down on his luck salesman trying to close the deal of his life in a far away country while licking his wounds resulting from a broken marriage, a lost home and family upheaval. Next up historical fact and fiction combine in this critically acclaimed foreign language film shot in the depths of the South American jungle as a tribal elder helps two scientists separated by thirty years, seek out a mythical plant. And then we wrap up with a tale of all things bread like with one added secret ingredient that helps boost sales and helps two opposites combine their talents on a micro scale with an underlying macro message.

Remember, that when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, be sure to return to these humble pages and share your thoughts and observations on the movie you have just seen by leaving a note in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We would love to hear from you. Until then, enjoy your film, and get a taste for this weeks latest releases from my Previews as below.

'JASON BOURNE' (Rated M) - this action spy thriller series of films based on the books and the character created by Robert Ludlum first burst onto our screens in 2002 in 'The Bourne Identity' with Matt Damon playing the title character of a CIA assassin suffering extreme memory loss who chases across the world to uncover the secrets of his past and claim back his identity. The first film was Directed by Doug Liman, with the second and third instalments - 'The Bourne Supremacy' in 2004 and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' in 2007 both Directed by Paul Greengrass. In 2012 'The Bourne Legacy' was Directed by Tony Gilroy with Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross on the run as a result of Bourne's actions in 'Ultimatum', and although Damon declined to return as our titular hero, he does appear in archival photographs and dialogue as the storylines overlap. Those first four films were made for a combined US$370M and grossed worldwide US$1,222B and collectively were hailed as both critical and commercial successes. Now almost ten years after last playing the character, Matt Damon is back and reunited with Paul Greengrass in this further instalment - made for US$120M with the screenplay written by Greengrass and both Damon and Greengrass acting as Co-Producers on this film.

After ten years of laying low following the events at the conclusion of 'Ultimatum', CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to lure our man Jason Bourne out of self imposed exile and assigns Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) to track him down and bring him out of the shadows. Lee however, suspects that Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) - a former CIA Operative and ally of Bourne, is also searching for him. So begins another game of cat & mouse as the action ramps up and Bourne finds himself front & centre as he and Parsons get caught up in a sinister network leveraging terror and technology to build a global power base, whilst evading the CIA who have their own agenda for wanting to bring him in, and Bourne attempts to uncover further answers about his past and his family. Vincent Cassel also stars.

'A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING' (Rated M) - written for the screen and Directed by Tom Tyker and based on the 2012 book of the same name by Dave Eggers, this comedy drama film starring Tom Hanks in the lead role was released in the US on 22nd April having cost US$30M to make and so far it has realised a return of just US$4.7M, representing Tom Hank's lowest grossing film in which he has top billing for thirty years. Set in 2010, the film tells the story of Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) - a washed up, depressed, down at heel corporate salesman who lost his home and divorced his wife during the Global Financial Crisis. He travels to Saudi Arabia with the intention of selling a holographic teleconferencing system to the Saudi Government for a pending development in the King's Metropolis of Economy and Trade. As he goes about his business he is assisted by new acquaintances in the form of a beautiful doctor Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) and a smart arse cab driver Yousef (Alexander Black). Also starring Tom Skerritt and Ben Whishaw.

'EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT' (Rated M) - this film has been critically lauded the world over, and is the proud recipient of 24 Award wins and another twenty nominations including the Best Foreign Language Film nomination at this years Academy Awards, and the winner of the Arts Cinema Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight. Filmed entirely in the Amazonia region of Colombia and Directed by Ciro Guerra, the films tells two stories separated by thirty years both centering upon an Amazonian Shamen, Karamakate (played by Nilbio Torres as the younger, and Antonio Bolivar as the older). He is the sole survivor of his tribe, and he accompanies two scientists - the German ethnologist and explorer Theodor Koch-Grunberg (1872-1924) played by Jan Bijvoet in 1909, and American biologist Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001) played by Brionne Davis in 1940 as they each search for a rare and sacred plant - the Yakruna - said to possess healing and psychedelic properties. Mixing both fact and fiction in glorious monochrome with the backdrop of the Amazonian rainforest with the emergence of Colonialist enforcers and the ensuing destruction of tribal lands, culture, history, beliefs, people and nature on a scale that still continues, Guerra delivers a haunting, dramatic, revealing and thought provoking film on a multitude of levels - a must see.

'DOUGH' (Rated M) - Directed by John Goldschmidt this film tells the story of an ageing Jewish baker Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce) single handedly running his little bakery shop and finding it all a little too much as the strains and struggles of early mornings, heavy lifting & kneading and hot baking ovens begin to creep into his old age whilst trying to maintain a viable business. Persuaded, albeit reluctantly, to take on a young seemingly no-hope Muslim immigrant apprentice from Darfur Ayyash Habimana (Jerome Holder) things begin to take a turn for the better when the young lad drops cannabis into the dough mixture, and suddenly the bread shop is much in demand and its products sought after as demand outstrips supply. This is a film that explores the power of relationships, acceptance, tolerance and support for the little guy who overcomes adversity from the big guy - with a little help from some weed, luck and good fortune. Pauline Collins and Phil Davis also star.

Four films for mid-Winter that once again offer a mixed bag of new cinematic content for your movie going choice in the week ahead. Share your thoughts when you have done so, and in the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-