Turn on the news and what do you see? Man's inhumanity to man. Ukraine, Gaza etc etc. It's enough to make you lose faith in the human race - or it would be were it not for the occasional story of humanity at its best.
In Czechoslovakia in 1938-9, a small group of people (Nicholas Winton is the best known as he was the last survivor of that group) are appalled by the plight of mainly Jewish refugees, and resolve to do something. Despite opposition from governments (German, Dutch, British and American) they manage to evacuate 669 children and provide them with foster families in the UK, where many of their descendants live to this day. A further 250 children were on a train that was scheduled to leave on the day war was declared. Two of them were still alive at the war's end.
Then the story was forgotten for more than forty years, until at last Nicholas Winton was given the recognition he deserved (not the least astonishing part of the story is that Robert Maxwell did one decent thing in his life).
The film is in two parts; the younger Winton being played by Johnny Flynn, the older by Anthony Hopkins. Both give stand-out performances. Also excellent is Helena Bonham Carter as Winton's mother. The scene where she tells a bureaucrat what she thinks of him is priceless.
But the most important aspect of the film is its message. Human kindness is still a force in the world. Everyone can make a difference. No good deed, be it great or small, is ever wasted.
If only governments were run by people like Nicholas Winton.
In Czechoslovakia in 1938-9, a small group of people (Nicholas Winton is the best known as he was the last survivor of that group) are appalled by the plight of mainly Jewish refugees, and resolve to do something. Despite opposition from governments (German, Dutch, British and American) they manage to evacuate 669 children and provide them with foster families in the UK, where many of their descendants live to this day. A further 250 children were on a train that was scheduled to leave on the day war was declared. Two of them were still alive at the war's end.
Then the story was forgotten for more than forty years, until at last Nicholas Winton was given the recognition he deserved (not the least astonishing part of the story is that Robert Maxwell did one decent thing in his life).
The film is in two parts; the younger Winton being played by Johnny Flynn, the older by Anthony Hopkins. Both give stand-out performances. Also excellent is Helena Bonham Carter as Winton's mother. The scene where she tells a bureaucrat what she thinks of him is priceless.
But the most important aspect of the film is its message. Human kindness is still a force in the world. Everyone can make a difference. No good deed, be it great or small, is ever wasted.
If only governments were run by people like Nicholas Winton.