Lilies of the Field (1963)
A Review Essay by Mark O'Hara
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"Lilies of the Field" was a small, good novel made into a small, good movie.
Think of the book and film versions of Glendon Swarthout's "Bless the Beasts and Children," or even Charles Portis' "True Grit." These are not major works of twentieth-century literature, but they are solid and typically American in their strong, independent characters and distinctive human interaction. Ralph Nelson's film takes William E. Barrett's book and turns it into a plain, intriguing tale.
Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), the novel tells us, is and ex-GI. (The movie is sparer than the book in this area, telling us very little about his background; we know only that he is Southern Baptist, and that he is traveling in his station wagon/home through the American Southwest.) Stopping at a desolate mission in the desert, Homer asks a nun for water for his overheating car. Moments later he examines his skinny wallet and decides to do a few chores for the nuns, before he moves on to whatever city happens to come next.
But a few chores turn into a hot and cold relationship of several months' duration. Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) puts off Homer's requests for payment, but looks heavenward gratefully for the "big, strong man He has sent" to build a chapel in the convent compound. At first reluctant to undertake this daunting task, Homer tangles with a big-time builder named Ashton, in town, and ends up driving Ashton's bulldozers two days a week. So some cash is coming in while Homer struggles with constructing a modest adobe church in the torrid sun - that is, until he runs out of bricks.
Sidney Poitier is masterful as Homer Smith; this is one of the roles that Poitier will be remembered for. His subtle humor fills the plot, even becoming hilarious at times. In one scene Homer is teaching the German nuns English, and he cannot help himself from modeling for them some Southern black dialect: Instead of "I stand up," he grins as the sisters follow his "Ah stands up, y'all"! Homer is so likable because he is good-natured, but Poitier lends texture to his character mainly through his interaction with his foil, the Mother Superior who will not thank him for all of his labors. Watch for strong muscial scenes from Poitier as well, in which he intermingles his own religious background with the nun's East Germany Catholicism.
Lilia Skala is appropriately stern and commanding as Mother Maria. We know the sisters have come a long way, even over the Berlin Wall, to get to this inherited property in the American desert. The broken English spoken by her and her charges serves to endear the nuns to us. They are all humble but fiercely devoted people.
As Juan, Stanley Adams does nice work. Although his accent and diction smack of falseness - this man seems to want to revert to a Bronx twang - Adams musters a rascally nonchalance that bonds him with Homer. Juan also functions as a template for the modern age: Catholic-born, this agnostic now serves meals in his restaurant while the traveling priest says mass for the people who have come from far and wide.
Dan Frazer does well as Father Murphy, the priest whose prayers for a massive cathedral were answered with a trailer with bald tires. And director Ralph Nelson ( who made many films beside this one, notably "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Father Goose" and "Charly) acquits himself well as Mr. Ashton, the slightly racist builder who employs Homer and who is the victim of Mother Maria's constant pleas for donations.
Jerry Goldsmith's score lends light-hearted fun to many scenes. The segueways are particularly interesting, with folksy harmonica swipes accompanying Homer's station wagon on the dusty hills.
If you are looking for a small but thought-provoking work, a film that covers tolerance and faith and friendship through its exploration of a most unlikely relationship, watch "Lilies of the Field."
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