Have You Watched ‘Lilies of the Field’ Lately?

Home Video Picks & Passes 08.15.21: A classic Catholic film makes the list.

‘Lilies of the Field’ is a good watch.
‘Lilies of the Field’ is a good watch. (photo: United Artists)

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) — PICK

Jaws (1975) — PICK

Lilies of the Field (1963) — PICK

Soul Surfer (2011) — PICK


Widely remembered today as the film for which Sidney Poitier became the first Black actor to win an Oscar in a leading performance, Lilies of the Field is more than a historical landmark. 

The plot — a small community of German nuns imposes on a Baptist handyman to support their dream of building a chapel — is conventional, but realized with sharp cultural observations and genuine spirituality as well as humor. Amen! 

Now on Amazon, How to Train Your Dragon is smartly made family entertainment that throws together dragons and Vikings and comes up with something pretty cool. Based on a true story, Soul Surfer is better-than-average faith-based fare about a young surfer from a devout Christian family who loses her arm in a shark attack.

Finally, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is still one of the best thrillers ever made — and rewards any number of rewatchings.

 

Caveat Spectator: How to Train Your Dragon: Animated fantasy violence; scary images; brief mildly risqué humor; a few Norse polytheistic references. Older kids and up. Jaws: Intense shark-related violence and menace; brief sexual themes and shadowy nudity (no sex); limited profanity and crude language. Mature viewing. Lilies of the Field: Nothing problematic. Fine family viewing. Soul Surfer: A fleeting, understated shark attack and medical aftermath (nothing too graphic). Teens and up.