Shadowlands

Rating:
Summary: Very Moving
Review: For anyone who has ever read "Miracles", or "The Problem of Pain", or "Mere Christianity", etc..., we all know Clive Staples Lewis is a deep man. For whomever takes a minute or two to read this review I cannot impress on you enough the amount of grace that God bestowed on this man. His probing insight into the heart of humanity has never ceased to amaze and astound me. "Shadowlands" gave me a different view of the man whom I consider a saint. His impeccable logic was worthless when it came to the love he felt for Joy. As she died he had to rely completely on his faith...and he was put to the test. His constant prayers for her healing did not change God's plan, "they changed him(C.S.)".
I cried throughout most of this movie...not for Joy, but for the pain my beloved author went through. I am sure Joy had her share of physical pain, but Jack went through the worst. When Love(God) shows up when you least expect it (along the line you have been following), and is suddenly taken away, you are bound to question your faith. The movie does a fine job of portraying that problem in the mind's eye of C.S. Lewis.

Rating:
Summary: Another look at C.S. Lewis
Review: C.S. Lewis is one of the most interesting characters of our time and this true story put to video gives you another perspective of his life...or so you would think.

I bought this for a church program, hoping the gospel would come out and that there would be more of a spiritual aspect to it.

In fact, it's just a love story. Still, as love stories go (and I'm no expert), I'd have to say it's a good one. You get to see two people of character being real with each other and dealing with tragedy.

So, for being another sketch of C.S. Lewis, God is not in the picture nearly as much as you would think. Again, the movie really just focuses on the love story.

If you're fascinated by C.S. Lewis the man, apart from his writings and theology, it does highlight some of his supposed eccentricities and deals a lot with those men who are of his "type". The lonely scholar, who some hypothesize surrounds himself with the walls of academia and endeavor as if to hide something.

BTW, my wife watched this with me and was upset that I didn't warn her about the need for kleenex. ...

Rating:
Summary: Shadowlands
Review: Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger are at their best.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Piece of Acting I Have Ever Seen
Review: This is a very good movie. It is most notable, however, for Anthony Hopkins's phenomenal performance. In particular, his scene with the little boy in the attic toward the end of the film is the most moving piece of acting that I have ever seen, and alone makes the movie well worth seeing and/or buying.

Rating:
Summary: Don't throw your love away for you might need it some day...
Review: 'Don't throw your love away for you might need it some day...'
sang The Searchers

Thank God Lewis didn't. As brief as it was - it was a love worth waiting for. I hope it ain't exclusive just to him.

Rating:
Summary: Well done, but a bit disappointing for true Lewis buffs
Review: The acting, scenery, photography, and themes in this film are well above most. However, for those of us who are devotees of the real C.S. Lewis's theological works, and who know something of his biography, it is tempting to say that this is a fine enough film... but not much about C.S. Lewis.

Indeed, the real Lewis and Joy did not have lives that were the stuff of conventional love stories, and the need of film makers to produce love stories in a certain pattern (this one being of the tragic genre) is eternal. Yet their shared Christian commitment, which seems only hinted at in the film, has much to do with their commitment to one another and eventual marriage. With that essential element removed, one tends to shudder that this crude, ill-mannered, loud American woman seems so meddling in the life of an Oxford don. (From Joy's first meeting with Jack, when she calls out "Anyone here called Lewis?" in a crowded , distinguished tea room, I wondered why he did not quietly disappear with his dignity intact.)

It seems, considering references to the Narnia series and the fictitious honeymoon spot, that the theme here was supposed to be that love is "magical." The real Lewis and his wife had less magic but far more substance, much more beautiful in its reality than fairy tales can be. As well, the film makes it appear that their life together was compressed into a matter of weeks.

Those who enjoy tear jerkers will find this a five star plus, and my own four stars are because, compared to many films, this is quite a good one. But I do not happen to be one who has much taste for using some events in the lives of fascinating "real people" to develop fictional love stories.

Rating:
Summary: BBC version is far better
Review: This movie seems to me to present a very one-dimentional portrayal of CS Lewis. They take a single quote from a single one of Lewis' many books and keep repeating it over and over again as if that were all there was of his thought, philosophy, theology, or faith. The BBC production starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom does a much better job at presenting CS Lewis the man as we meet him through his writings.

Rating:
Summary: Tender triumph!!!
Review: This movie is one of those rare films that manages to capture some of lives deeper truths without getting heavy handed. This love story is entertaining mostly due to the fine script and outstanding performances by Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman) , and Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park, Simon Birch). Hopkins plays the mature C.S. Lewis (The Narnia Chronicles, The Four Loves). Even though Oxford professor Lewis has converted to Christianity, he has built a world where no one can touch him emotionally. His relationships with everyone, even his brother and closest friends, are nothing more than intellectual acquaintances.

Enter Joy Gresham and her young son Douglas. Douglas is an avid Lewis fan from reading the Narnai books. Both mother and child enter Lewis' world, oblivious to the walls Lewis has erected to protect his own emotions. The resulting drama is one of the finest movies available. This is English cinema at its best. Particularly noteworthy is George Fenton's moving score. His original compositions for the film are worth a listen on their own, and one of my favorite soundtracks ever. In the tradition of Vaughn-Williams, Butterworth, and Parry - his music stands with other British 20th century romantics.

This beautiful film was directed by Sir Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Jurassic Park), and shows us Hopkin's genius as an actor, making much more use of his talent than we've seen in recent years. This is a tear jerker, but still highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Cosmic performance by Hopkins
Review: This is a wonderful and deeply affecting film, featuring superb direction by Attenborough, a terrific supporting cast, a bafflingly fine job by Debra Winger, and a performance by Anthony Hopkins that no other actor alive could possibly apporach. I yield to no one in my admiration for Hopkins, the finest actor of his generation, and when I muse about his greatest efforts this performance sneaks back into my thoughts constantly. It betrays a a level of understanding and sensitivity that is a source of deep satisfaction that will never fade, and when Hopkin's life's work is regarded in its totality, I believe this performance may stand first.

C.S. Lewis is a most sympathetic subject for a story, and this is unquestionably a very fine story. The earlier BBC production of Shadowlands was a terrific film, and it is significant that this Attenborough film makes one forget all about the BBC offering (certain "technical" complaints by other reviewers to the contrary notwithstanding)..

Some may quibble about minor aspects of this film, or suggest that the "restraint" of the BBC production is somehow embarrasing to this film. I think that is nonsense. This is a story that resides at the center of sorrow, and gains nothing from understatement. I have never witnessed a film that has touched its viewers so deeply. If it embarasses some cinema "experts", who carry all of their responsiveness in their heads, then I believe that is their fault, and not the fault of this film.

When Dickens died, the Times obituary said about his work that "the crtitics blushed, but the people wept and cheered." For this film, one of my ten favorites, I wept and cheered.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes, there is no happy ending...
Review:
Prerequisites for this film: two hours of uninterupted, quiet time, and a box of tissues.

Those deeply committed to their spouse, or any loved one, will be deeply touched by the absolute torment a man can be driven to by the death of that loved one. Especially hard to deal with is the feeling of helplessness in the heart of a man so formerly, and otherwise powerful and emotionally detached. It leads one to the dangerous place where it seems that the promise of true love threatens to be merely a cruel practical joke perpetrated by a God who, strangley enough calls himself "Love."

The story is touching and moving, and ghastly effective in driving the "cruel" point home. For instance:

There's always background music in a film. But at this point, the scene is silent. Silent for what seems like an eternity, in a room with only a bed visible. On it lays Lewis' wife, while he kneels with his head laying silently on on the side of her bed. Only the clock can be heard ticking, slowly, endlessly. She's dying, and they both know it. And that's the source of the pain.

The dialogue is engaging and heart-breaking at times. Lewis is left to explain to Joy the seriousness of her condition, and when she finds out:

He: "I don't want to lose you..."
She: "I don't want to be lost..."

The movie is so sad because it's so true - and true not just for Lewis fifty some-odd years ago; but true for all of us, by the thousands every day. Every man and wife, every father and son, every mother and daughter knows that this day is coming for us too, and we are all helpless to avoid it, or to stop it when it comes.

This movie's emotional impact will not stop when the credits roll. It will not stop on the way home. It will not stop for DAYS. It's actually been about six years since I viewed the film, and I want to watch it again, but I have been avoiding it because I already know the deep impact it is going to extoll on me in the process. That's how powerful it is.

On a purely pragmatic note, I've never really been a big fan of Deborah Winger, but she comes across nicely in this film, and of course Anthony Hopkins turns in his usual best.

For further reading, two books by Lewis directly address the events in the movie. "A Grief Observed" wherein the author relates his tormented passage through the grief following his wife's death - a journey that takes him to the very edge of his faith in God, and "Suprised By Joy" which chronicles his "recovery" and renewed faith.