Lilies of the Field

Starring: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Stanley Adams, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis
Directed by: Ralph Nelson
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama, Comedy
1963

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A handyman (Sidney Poitier) reluctantly agrees to help a group of nuns who want to build a church and believe he was sent to them by God.

Review:

Tim: Lilies of the Field is an interesting movie. I knew very little about it before watching it. When the movie started, I enjoyed it, before starting to love it, before getting a bit bored and only liking it again. It was a little up-and-down. As a whole, the film is quite good, if a little uneven.

The early scenes are the best ones. It was great fun to see this confident handyman accidentally collide (figuratively) with these foreign nuns. There were language barrier issues, intention issues, and a lot of back-and-forth. Those scenes were fun, especially as a fragile relationship started being built. I loved seeing how the nuns influenced the handyman and the handyman influenced the nuns. The movie was building up wonderfully. At some point, however, the movie plateaus. For me, this was around the time the handyman actually leaves for a while. He does come back, refuses help with building the church, and muddles around for a while. The quality of these scenes dropped. I started to lose interest. The film does pick up steam a bit before the end, but it never recaptures the amazing early scenes. This is a big reason why I wouldn't quite consider this a great movie. The unevenness, especially of the middle of the film, is a bit disappointing.

Sidney Poitier's performance is very good. He's confident, arrogant yet kind, loyal and yet selfish. His singing scenes are quite fun to behold. It's a very interesting role and Poitier brought loads of energy into it. He certainly elevates the film with his performance. I really liked his performance. That being said, I'm a little surprised he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. This felt like a performance that absolutely should have been nominated, but I'm not quite sure I would have given it my vote. That feels weird to say because of the importance of the win- not just for Poitier, but for Hollywood and America as a whole. Poitier was the first African-American to ever win Best Actor. That is a stunning achievement, although I'm sure many others were worthy over the previous years. I love that Poitier was the one to break through on the male side (obviously, Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win Best Supporting Actress, in 1939). I'm glad he won for the significance of the win, but wonder if there better performances out there. The supporting cast was good, too. Most noteworthy was Lilia Skala, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

The film isn't afraid to be inspirational, although it does this is a fairly restrained manner. It's never over-the-top or in-your-face. I wouldn't consider this an especially religious movie, even though the nuns believe God has sent Poitier to them, and the majority of the film is about building a church. Yes, the religious aspect is present, but it's not the chief focus. The focus is on Poitier's Homer Smith, and the transformation that he undergoes throughout the movie. While he still maintains his pride, strength, and humor, he stops thinking about himself first and does kind, charitable things for people who can never repay him. It's quite a change from a man who is so bent on getting paid in the early scenes. I thought the final scene was quite fitting as well. It might not have been as powerful or emotional as I'd hoped, but it does leave us with a nice image and a fond memory of this film.

Lilies of the Field is a very strong movie. It tells an inspirational story about characters that feel complex and real. It features very good performances from Poitier and Skala, and a strong supporting cast. While it loses its focus just a bit during the middle scenes, this is still a movie that's well worth checking out. I wouldn't quite call it a great movie, but it does get awfully close.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



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