Films to see

Is it that I am necessarily a big fan of old movies? No. It is more a that I am not a fan of new movies. There are some old films that I love. There are some old films that I find interesting. Thinking that you may love or find them interesting as well, I want to bring some films to your attention so that you may catch them some time and hopefully enjoy them as much as I do.

This is the first.

If you were to ask me what I kind of film I enjoy, It would answer this way: I enjoy films where people find themselves in situations that may not be of their own choosing; they meet the challenge head on and come out better on the other side.

If you were to ask me my favorite film of all time, I would probably answer the film with Sidney Poitier's Oscar winning performance in 1963: Lilies of the Field.

Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) and Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier)

This is a film about people. Good people. They just may not know it yet.

Poitier play Homer Smith, an itinerant handyman traveling around the country. Needing water for his car, he finds his way to property inhabited by a group of nuns. He gets water from their well. Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) says to herself, "God has sent me a big strong man."

Poitier replies, "He didn't say anything to me about sending me anyplace."

Smith agrees to fix the roof of the nun's house. At that point, Homer and Mother Maria become inexorably tied to one another. Two strong willed people, both with unfulfilled dreams. The two are at loggerheads with one another, each not willing to admit that the other is probably one of the most positively life-changing people they would ever meet.

Other important characters in the film:
Juan Accolito (Stanley Adams), the agnostic owner of the diner/gas station whose parking lot plays host to the traveling road show Mass. Adams was a great enough actor to overcome his playing an Hispanic with an accent while making you think he came from Brooklyn -- I can't imagine anyone else playing the part.

Juan Accolito (Stanley Adams), Father Murphy (Dan Frazer), Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), and Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier)

Father Murphy (Dan Frazer), the priest whose dream was to be sent to a grand cathedral in a rich diocese.

Father Murphy (Dan Frazer) and his traveling road show

Mr. Ashton (director Ralph Nelson), the arrogant local contractor and big man about town who is constantly pestered for donations by Mother Maria.

By the end of the film all of them learn compassion, humility, and to be grateful for the good people they meet.

Homer learns that his power was not to build something by himself, but to bring people together.

Mother Maria learns that the power of God comes from people -- not from divine intervention.

Juan learns that there is more to life than life itself.

Father Murphy learns that he was truly blessed to be where he is.

Mr. Aston learns to appreciate people for their character, not by skin color (where have we heard that before?) -- To Ashton, Homer goes from "Boy" to "Mr. Smith."

I remember the times in which this film was made. The bad news is that young people today may not fully appreciate the situations of the people in the film. The good news is that young people today may not fully appreciate the situations of the people in the film. Someone twenty-five years old today would have been born after the fall of the Berlin Wall, over which the nuns escaped. The so called racism of today pales in comparison to what Homer Smith would have faced. As he observed at one point, "Gringo? I don't know if that is a step up or a step down from some other things I've been called."

I could watch this film anytime. It is a guaranteed mood-lifter.