First trailer of Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton released

As a young man visiting Prague in the 1930s, Winton encountered thousands of Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi-occupied Germany, and he became deeply concerned about the future of the refugee children given the rising threat of a Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia.

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The “British Schindler”: Sir Nicholas Winton (Getty Images)

So began Winton’s daring plan to evacuate as many Jewish children as he could before the onset of World War II in an operation that became known as the Kindertransport. Over the course of several years, Winton travelled back and forth between London and Prague to rescue nearly 700 children, right up until the borders closed. Well into his old age, Winton was haunted by the fate of the children he could not save.  

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Helena Bonham Carter in One Life (Warner Brothers)

The film trailer begins by showing the profound moment, in 1988, when Winton’s story was first made public by BBC TV program That’s Life!, hosted by Esther Rantzen. Unbeknownst to Winton, the studio audience was comprised of the grown children he saved from Nazi persecution half a century earlier.  

Hopkins is aptly cast as the central figure, rounding out a legendary career that only seems to expand as he ages; the actor has taken on numerous heady roles such as The Father and The Two Popes in recent years. Other prominent actors in the film include Helena Bonham Carter as Babi Winton and Jonathan Pryce as Martin Blake.  

One Life will be released in theatres across the UK on January 5, 2024.