Consider the Lilies

The 1963 film Lilies of the Field incorporates the drama and humor of race and religious relations against the backdrop of the American southwest. A great inspirational film, it echoes the biblical verse Look at the lilies of the field, they continue to appear beautiful even though they get no payment. The bloom is to honor God, but not to get paid for their work. Verse comes from Matthew 6:28 and was part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) is an itinerant worker who who finds his way onto a small ranch in Arizona, owned by a group of East German nuns who escaped through the Berlin Wall. The head none, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), hires Smith to do a small repair and then keep him working with them, though all he wants is to get paid and get out. Mother Maria's small group consists of Sister Gertrude (Lisa Mann), Sister Agnes (Isa Crino), Sister Albertine (Francesca Jarvis), and Sister Elizabeth (Pamela Branch) The nuns believe that Smith is an instrument sent to them by God to help them build a chapel on their property since the only chapel around is basically a U-Haul. While he builds the chapel for them, he also teaches English to the nuns and they exchange religious songs. In town, Smith makes friends with local priest Father Murphy (Dan Frazer), and proprietor Juan (Stanley Adams). Smith clashes with Mother Maria at times, but it is his determination to help the nuns build their chapel that involves the whole local community in the task.

Sidney Poitier won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role, the first African-American man to win an Oscar for acting. The film was #46 on AFI's list of 100 Years... 100 Cheers. The film is based on a book by William Edmund Barrett, which was written 1962. After the success of the film, it was turned into a play.

For some marvelous screen shots of this film, you can look here, thanks to the Screen Shot World Blog. For reviews and synopsis of the film, you can hread this review, thanks to movie-page.com, this review thanks to decentfilms.com, this one courtesey of robink.ca/movies, and this one thanks to Soul Food Cinema. Below is the trailer for the film: