POWER OF GOOD, THE: NICHOLAS WINTON

Writer/director Matej Minac made his feature debut in 1999 with ALL MY LOVED ONES. It told the story of a Czech Jewish family eliminated during the Holocaust, except for one boy taken out of Prague on a “Kindertransport” arranged by Englishman Nicholas Winton. Now, Minac reveals the truth behind Winton's rescue mission and uses interviews, archival footage and photographs to document an important historical chapter overlooked for nearly 50 years. This inspiring film illustrates how the caring of one man made an extraordinary difference during a turbulent time. In the Thirties, Nicholas Winton was a London stockbroker. He learned of the plight of Eastern European Jews through a friend working in Prague. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Winton and his team managed to save 669 mainly Czech Jewish children from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis by organizing six trains which took them to new families in Britain. When war was declared, Winton joined the Royal Air Force and told no one about his past. In 1988, while cleaning the attic, his wife discovered a scrapbook documenting his unique work. The story became public and Winton finally met some of those whose lives he had saved, including CBC journalist Joe Schlesinger, author Vera Gissing, and filmmaker Karel Reisz,. “There is a difference between passive goodness and active goodness. The latter is, in my opinion, the giving of one's time and energy in the allevatiation of pain and suffering. It entails going out, finding and helping those who are suffering and in danger and not merely in leading an exemplary life, in a purely passive way of doing no wrong.” – Nicholas Winton 1939 (In Czech with English subtitles)