Uma Voz nas Sombras

Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) stops at a convent in the Arizona desert to get some water for his car on his way to the west coast and find some work. Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) leads four other Germanic Catholic nuns. They think he's been sent by God. With low funds, he decides to work a day for money. She sends him up to fix the roof. He does two days' work but when he tries to get paid, Mother Maria quotes the Bible, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." The nuns have no money and Homer is convinced to do more work. Eventually, he builds a chapel for the nuns and their poor Mexican migrant worshipers.

This is what faith-based movies should aim for. It is compelling. It is funny. Homer and Mother Maria are a funny comedy duo. At its core, this is powerful message of faith and goodness. Poitier wins the Oscar, the first competitive award for an African-American.

Sidney Poitier won the best actor Oscar for this film and he deserved it playing a traveling handyman who is drafted by a flock of German nuns to build a church out in the deserted Southwest. He is a cynical man with a great singing voice and it is put is put to good use several times. This is a change of pace for me as I usually watch violent fare of the Tarantino style. We all need a pleasant change of pace once and a while.

The film that until 2001 sported the only African-American Best Actor or Actress Oscar winner. Sidney Poitier (in an excellent Oscar-winning performance) stars as an unemployed handyman whose car breaks down in New Mexico. He is greeted by a group of German nuns led by Lilia Skala (Oscar-nominated). The nuns are in desperate need of a church and it just seems that Poitier is not going to be able to shake Skala and the various duties she imposes on him. A really great film that works due to Poitier more than anything else. He carried what could have been a disappointing production into cinematic history. Arguably the best film of 1963, "Lilies of the Field" continues to be a funny, dramatic and heart-warming film nearly 40 years after its initial release. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

If someone were to ask me for the 'perfect' movie, this is the one I would choose. Not 'greatest', not 'best', but something better... an utterly flawless film. It's lean and spare, set in the desert and filmed in B&W. Both the humor and the drama are low-key, but are all the more moving for that, presented without clutter. It uses a small cast to create a rich diversity of characters from different religions, races, and cultures. But these differences aren't what creates the drama, they are simply a wonderful part of the background texture. The conflict lies purely in the clash of personalities between two good people, Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) and Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), both with their own personal flaws and virtues.

I really can't begin to describe how much I like "Lilies of the Field". It could have been one of those awful preachy 'message' films, but it isn't. It is purely fine story telling. Which isn't to say you can't find meaning in it. Far from it. For me, I've always been taken by how the common human goodness of all the characters is brought out without being dependent on, or sacrificing, their many differences of religion or culture. They remain the same people at the end of the movie as at the beginning, except they're all a bit better, a bit less flawed. And that's pretty close to perfection.

A film about faith. Special, because it is less religious but reflection support about himself, the others, meets and choices. A nun community, in middle of Arizona desert. A handy man. And a beautiful relation between them, mix of humor and friendship and help. The simplicity of story is more than charming. The message - more than precise. A film for admirers of old classic films. And about lost beauty of authentic cinema. And , sure, the lovely performance of Lilia Skala.