A small masterpiece about divine grace moving in surprising ways (L&M3)
Written: Dec 04 '04
Product Rating:
Pros: Poitier, Skalia, cinematography, music
Cons: stereotyped simple Mexican Americans
The Bottom Line: A gem by a mostly forgotten master who made interesting, character-driven movies during the 1960s with very engaging performances by Sidney Poitier and Lilia Skala.
I certainly do not begrudge him one, but I'm not sure Sidney Poitier deserved an Oscar for "Lilies of the Field," delightful as he was in it as a Homer Smith, a drifter enlisted in God's work by Mother Maria, an implacable German nun in southern Arizona (Lilia Skalia). Neither of them is sentimentalized, though the poor Mexican parishioners who lack a church building are. The drifter need not have been black, and the sisters barely seem to notice that he is, but he knows he is and his color is far from overlooked in his relationship with the local builder, Mr. Ashton, played by Nelson (so that the omnicompetent Poitier overcomes another cracker's prejudices).
Unlike the nuns who have fled communist oppression in East Germany, Smith is very conscious of racial and cultural (Baptist/Catholic) differences, and the signature song ("Amen" with a long "a") he teaches them to sing is black vernacular music. Like the Mexican villagers who have faith in the priest who has dared to come to them in Nelson's "Wrath of God," the nuns have faith in Homer Smith, and both reluctant heroes rise to the occasion. (They exemplify what Lilies author William E. Barrett elsewhere called the operation of "the left hand of God." and unlike the title's allusion to Matthew 6:28, Homer works; for that matter so do the nuns, for all their faith that God will provide what they need.)
Nelson directed two other films with Poitier (Duel at Diablo, The Wilby Conspiracy) as well as such small gems as Soldier in the Rain", "Requiem for a Heavyweight", Cliff Robertson's surprise best-actor Oscar-winner "Charly"), and the already mentioned cult Robert Mitchum western "Wrath of God." Ernest Haller's crisp black-and-white photography got an Oscar nomination (as did Lilia Skalia,the screenplay, and the picture, the musical score, surprisingly, didn't get one).
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