365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 351 - Lilies Of The Field

Today Lilies of the Field is mostly remembered for being the movie that won Sidney Poitier an Oscar for Best Actor. It was 1963 and it was the first time the Best Actor Oscar was awarded to an African American man (an event that would not be repeated until 2001 when Denzel Wahinton won).

But the movie is much more than Poitier's award. It is an uplifting film about having faith and belief that God will provide and in the meantime work hard and do the best you have with what you've got.

Poitier stars Homer Smith as an itinerant handyman traveling across the Arizona desert. He stops at a small, rundown convent run by nuns from Germany. He needs some water for his car radiator. The head of the convent, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), convinces Homer to patch the roof while he is there and then stay for a meager supper. The next day, while hoping to get paid for his labor, he does some more work. While at the convent Homer also helps the German nuns learn English and teaches them some Baptist revival songs.

Homer and Mother Maria continue to but heads until they use the Bible to resolve their conflict. To win the argument Mother Maria reads a passage from the Sermon on the Mount and that is where the title of the movie comes from.

Afterwards Mother Maria reveals her true plan. She believes God has sent Homer to build them a chapel to worship in. Currently Sunday mass is held by the side of the road, and the back of a station wagon, driven by a traveling priest Father Murphy (Dan Frazer), serves as the alter. Homer is resistant at first but soon agrees to build the chapel. But a building can't be built without supplies and the nuns have no money. Without money the project stalls and Homer departs for parts unknown. But Mother Maria's belief that Homer is the man to build the chapel never wavers and she prays for God to supply the solution.

Based on the best selling book by William Edmund Barrett the film was a big hit in 1962 and received multiple award nominations in addition to Poitier's Oscar.

At the Movie House rating **** stars.