Lilies of the Field

A touching film about a handyman who finds himself in a small desert town helping nuns to build their prayed-for chapel. Poitier's performance is incredible which eleavates an average movie to an excellent one. It can be rented but insist on the black and white version. The theme song "AMEN" is delightful and fits the film perfectly.

Everyone in the film seems to be a fish out of water, and this makes for a compelling mixture of humor and poignancy. The German nuns are not conversant in American culture and require—demand, rather—assistance to procure supplies, travel to mass, and build their chapel. Sidney Poitier's Homer (is the name an "Odyssey" reference?) needs a steady job, though he may not want to admit it. The English lessons he gives the nuns, and the Baptist hymn he teaches them, are the film's highlights, and these both come within the first twenty minutes. The narrative loses momentum as the chapel slowly takes shape, but at a mere 94 minutes it is not too long a movie.

It seems like anything I say about how great this movie is wouldn't be enough. Sidney Poitier was amazing as Smith/Schmidt the guy who gets dragged into building a church for a bunch of German nuns lead by an austere, never appreciative head nun of the help she receives. It is just a great film without violence, sex or mystery but is extremely captivating in every scene.

"Lilies of the Field" is a nice simple movie about Christian values of charity, working hard, and trusting in God for provision. It demonstrates that one man can make a big difference, but also that one man alone can't do it all, it often takes a village. Sidney Poitier even does a great rendition singing a gospel song. I rate it a 9/10, worth watching if you get the chance, though I may like it a little extra as it's about construction which I used to work.

An out of work contractor (Sidney Poitier) happens upon an ODD group of nuns. After all, they are five East German nuns in the middle of the Arizona desert! While the nuns have no money and you have no idea why he stays, this Baptist man stays and helps them complete their chapel. "Lilies of the Field" is a nice film filled with nice people doing nice things. It can't help but be a movie that people would enjoy, as it has a nice message and nice acting. However, I can't quite see why Sidney Poitier won the Oscar for Best Actor, as the film really didn't seem to take any risks and certainly won't offend. His performance was good but I think he certainly did a lot better, such as in "In the Heat of the Night" or "Edge of the City" or "Pressure Point"--all films which had a much riskier message and required more skill on Poitier's part. Mind you, I liked "Lilies of the Field"--I just didn't feel it was a particularly noteworthy film--though it is a nice family picture.

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.