Product: Lilies of the Field [VHS] (1963)
Rating: 5.0
Divine Persuasion
In 1962 Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor for director Ralph Nelson's LILIES OF THE FIELD. Poitier played the handyman stranger, Homer Smith, who helps build a chapel for German-speaking nuns in the American southwest. Poitier played a man of dignity and purpose that is pitted in a friendly but feisty test of wills between him and Mother Maria, leader of the nuns, played by Lilia Skala. This is a wonderful film that explores the idea that one should never underestimate the divine tools that we are given and that sharing those tools can be both rewarding and gratifying. Jerry Goldsmith composed a moving and uplifting score combining both idioms of Americana and Gospel. Sidney Poitier is perfect as Homer Smith. After feasting on a single fried egg from the nuns each morning Poitier's description of the breakfast he orders from Stanley Adams in the diner is a gastronomic mouthwatering delight. It's one of the best and most amusing scenes in the movie and demonstrates Poitier's versatile appeal.