Lilies in the field

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Movie
German title Lilies in the field
Original title Lilies of the Field
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1963
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Ralph Nelson
script James Poe , William E. Barrett
production Ralph Nelson
music Jerry Goldsmith
camera Ernest Haller
cut John W. McCafferty
occupation

Lilien auf dem Felde (Original title: Lilies of the Field ) is a film by the American director Ralph Nelson from 1963. The comedy was produced by the Rainbow Productions Inc. film studio with Sidney Poitier . It is based on the novel of the same name by William E. Barrett .

action

The United States , in 1962: Homer Smith, a black casual workers, traveling with his car through Arizona . One day he stops at a small farm to ask for cooling water. There Homer meets five nuns who fled the GDR a few months ago in order to create a new existence in Arizona.

The superior, Sister Maria, sees in him a man whom she has prayed to God for and immediately instructs him to repair the roof. Homer wants to continue the next day, but the superior makes him stay. On Sunday, the sisters drive to Holy Mass , which is celebrated in the Arizona desert at a campsite. Smith is a staunch Baptist and therefore does not go to mass, but in the village shop "Juans Trading Post". There he orders an extensive breakfast with eggs, beans and countless extras from the owner Juan after the meager meal from the sisters.

The superior asks that a chapel be built, but Homer initially refuses. The next day he leaves the nuns without receiving his wages. He takes the superior in the car to the next larger town. There he sees a bulldozer that piques his interest. He meets Mr. Ashton, the owner of the construction company, and receives an offer from him to work for him two days a week. After a brief hesitation, he accepts the offer and also decides to want to build the sister chapel.

Homer Smith is slowly getting used to his new daily routine. He works on the foundation walls of the chapel until noon, and in the evenings "Schmidt", as the nuns call him, helps them learn the English language. Construction is only progressing slowly, as the sisters have no money and there is therefore a lack of building materials. One day there is a conflict between Matron Maria and Homer, who leaves the place on the same day. A few weeks pass and there is no work on the construction site. On the Sunday way back from Holy Mass, which the nuns now have to do on foot again, Homer Smith meets them in his car and takes them the rest of the way home.

Homer has changed his mind and wants to finish the chapel. The people in the area feel so encouraged by his return that they bring him the building material he needs. After a few days, several Mexican neighbors show up and help out without being asked. However, Smith does not like this at all, as he wanted to build the chapel alone.

Smith lies down on a log and watches them work. When the superior realizes that the construction is going wrong more and more, she tries to clarify the situation. Since she doesn't speak Spanish, Mexicans don't understand her and are about to quit the job. After some hesitation and the skilful intervention of the helping shopkeeper Juan, Homer takes over the management of the work. On the evening before the completion of the beautiful chapel, Smith succeeds in eliciting a grudging thank you from the superior, who only feels obliged to thank God. He neither takes the designated place of honor at the church consecration and certainly does not want to manage the planned construction of a school and a hospital, but leaves the room while singing the gospel Amen , packs his things and drives away.

History of origin

The film title was taken from the New Testament (Matthew Gospel, 6:28, LUT ) and says in the Bible as follows: " And why are you worried about clothes? Look at the lilies in the field, how they grow: they They don't work, they don't spin either. "The film was shot in Tucson, Arizona within 14 days.

The composer Jester Hairston wrote the song Amen for the film. This song is sung by Sidney Poitier. At the end of the film the word " Amen " appears. Usually a Golden Age of Hollywood movie ended with the words "The End".

In June 1963 the film was presented to the public for the first time at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was released in US cinemas on October 1, 1963 . The film studio United Artists acted as distributor . The film had a budget of $ 250,000. Within a few months, the film grossed $ 3 million in the US. Sidney Poitier won a Golden Globe , the Silver Bear and an Oscar for Best Actor. This made him the first African American to win an Oscar in this category.

Awards

The film was nominated for an Oscar in five categories in 1964 . Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

The film was nominated for an Oscar in the following categories:

  • Best Supporting Actress: Lilia Skala
  • Best cameraman: Ernest Haller
  • Best Adapted Screenplay: James Poe
  • Best film: Ralph Nelson

The film also won the following awards:

The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the production the rating of particularly valuable .

Reviews

"This comedy by director Ralph Nelson [...] lives mainly through the brilliant play of the main actor Sidney Poitier."

- Prisma (online film database)

"Cheerful comedy that only covers its religious theme on the surface, but thanks to the good leading actor, lets you feel tolerance and openness to human problems."

- Lexicon of International Films

"A silent film of carefree serenity [...]."

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz : Lexicon "Films on TV" (Rating: 2½ out of 4 possible stars = above average)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ lilies on the field at prisma-online.de; Retrieved November 1, 2008
  2. ^ "Lexicon of International Films" (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
  3. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 510