Product: Lilies of the Field [VHS] (1963)
Rating: 5.0
Life Affirming Experience
I was born in 1963 the year "Lilies of the Field" was released. It's not possible for me to gauge the impact this gentle film had in easing tensions in a racially fraught time in our country. Fortunately, this film is not merely a time capsule curio but one whose message of universal kindness and understanding is timeless. Why this film is not a heavy-handed message film is that director Ralph Nelson leavens the proceedings with light-hearted humor that would win over the most hard-hearted cynic. The film is also blessed with a towering performance by Sidney Poitier as handyman Homer Smith. Smith is a talented but directionless man who does not find his life calling until a group of Eastern bloc nuns entreat upon him to build them a chapel to serve a Mexican migrant congregation. The impulse could have been for Poitier to play Homer as some kind of Superman but he manages to tap into the foibles and humor of the character. Poitier won the Oscar for this role and in this case the Academy got it right. I can't recall a film where he's been better. He's matched well with the stern taskmaster Mother Superior played by Lilia Skala. In this season of good will, or any time of the year, this film is essential viewing. Amen.