Lilies of the Field: Sidney Poitier Oscar Winner

This 1963 black and white film was done on a relatively low budget, but like the dominant subject of the film, the movie does much with little. Sidney Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Lilia Skala was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the movie itself was nominated for Best Picture. A couple of other notes: Ralph Nelson was the producer and director of the film, and according to Turner Classic Movies (aka, "TCM"), the budget was so tight, he played the role of Mr. Ashton in the film, because he couldn't afford to hire an actor. And Sidney Poitier took a small actual paycheck for his role in the film, but he so believed in the story, he instead signed for a percentage of any future profits, which turned out to be pretty substantial. 

This is a GREAT story of how people of varying backgrounds can accomplish things when they work together, although some leadership and motivation are needed to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and the reasons why people continue to pursue some difficult goals may not even be fully understood by the people involved themselves. The movie has many lighthearted scenes, and regardless of your religious beliefs, or non religious beliefs, I think most people will feel good after seeing this movie.   

Cast:

Sidney Poitier as "Homer Smith"
Lilia Skala as "Mother Maria"
Lisa Mann as "Sister Gertrude"
Isa Crino as "Sister Agnes"
Francesca Jarvis as "Sister Albertine"
Pamela Branch as "Sister Elizabeth"
Stanley Adams as "Juan"
Dan Frazer as "Father Murphy"
Ralph Nelson as "Mr. Ashton" (Nelson was uncredited in the film role, but he was also the producer and director of the film)

A free-spirited African American traveling fix-it man, Homer Smith, needs water for his car, an old station wagon. When he pulls off a dusty road in the American Southwest, he meets five German speaking Catholic nuns who are putting up a fence around a small farmhouse. The head nun, Mother Maria, tells him that God is good and has sent her a strong man, and that she has something for Homer to do. Homer says he doesn't know anything about that, and he thanks the women for the water, gets back into his car and drives off, with the nuns looking on attentively. Before he even gets back to the road, he stops and looks into his wallet, where he sees his money is running low. He turns the car around and goes back. He tells Mother Maria if she wants to "hire" him, he is available for one day's work. Mother Maria says "hire?" Homer tells her, "Hire... that means for money." In a sort of comic way, the German-speaking nuns pronounce Homer's family name in the German manner, "Schmidt" ... hahaha... hey wait a minute, my name is Schmidt... ahh, Smith!* Mother Maria tells Homer the roof needs to be fixed, and he pulls a tool-filled crate from the back of his old station wagon. The nuns are impressed and he tells them you need good tools to get good work, and "when you 'hire' Homer Smith, you get good work." This brings Mother Maria to repeat the word "hire" in a scornful way, which goes unnoticed by Homer, and he goes off to fix the roof.

When Homer finishes with the roof, he begins to write up a bill. The nuns carry out a small bed and Mother Maria tells Homer the bed is for him to sleep. He tells her he sleeps in his car and that he has to get moving to find a place to eat, because he's hungry. Unknown to Homer, Mother Maria has been peeking over his shoulder at his calculations for payment. When he hands her the bill, she takes it and puts it into her pocket without looking at it, because she already knows what's on it. She tells Homer he is in too big of a hurry, and that, "We were not put on the Earth to hurry, Schmidt." She then says she'll ring the bell for supper. She walks away leaving Homer to wonder what just happened. Later she rings the bell and calls out, "Schmidt!" Homer comes to the house where the nuns are at a table waiting for him. Mother Maria says a prayer in German asking that the food provided to them will make "Schmidt" strong so that "he can fulfill Your will." Homer, who doesn't know what she just said, stands respectfully at the table.** They all sit down and not another word is spoken as the starving Homer gulps down the relatively small amount he's been given and the ever respectful nuns daintily eat their food. When all are finished, Mother Maria thanks God for the food, and Homer utters, "God sets a mighty poor table." When Homer says he must be going, Mother Maria says, "Do not make hurry. We are from Germany, from Austria and from Hungaria.*** We learn English." They bring out a phonograph and begin to play a record with English lessons for German speakers. After a few minutes Homer tells them he can help to teach them English and he proceeds to do just that, and in such a fun way, even the serious Mother Maria has fun. It's a cheerful scene and Homer even throws in a little black American English, "I stands up, y'all," much to the delight of the nuns, and Homer loves it too.

The next morning Mother Maria awakens Homer and speaks in German about him sleeping late while the nuns have been up for hours working. Homer decides to put his foot down and he tells Mother Maria that he's no nun to be bossed around by her, and that it's time she paid him and he'll leave. Mother Maria abruptly tells him to go inside and eat breakfast and she stomps off. Homer goes inside and finds his breakfast consists of just one egg and a cup of milk, which prompts him to say, "That old lady, she don't hand out grub like she hands out orders, does she?" Homer downs the egg in one bite and drinks some milk, then he goes outside and attempts to talk business with Mother Maria, who quickly orders him to follow her, which he does. She takes Homer to an area where there is a dilapidated building with no roof, lots of debris and broken down beams. She tells Homer "We build a chapel," which she pronounces with her German accent as "shhapel." She proceeds to tell Homer he is going to help them build the chapel, but he immediately protests, "I ain't buildin' no shhapel," he says, mocking her accent, but Mother Maria stands there straight-faced and arms crossed. She then says "We women will build it... it's God's will." Homer tries to give Mother Maria his bill, but she completely ignores him and Homer agrees to help move some of the debris from the site, "I don't want those girls breaking their backs picking up those heavy beams." Homer begins working. Later Mother Maria rings the dinner bell and calls, "Schmidt, Schmidt." A tired and hungry Homer utters, "Oh, Mother gonna feed the slaves?" They eat dinner and Homer gives them some more English lessons. He then tries to talk with Mother Maria about his bill, telling her, "You pay me. I'm for hire," and with the mention of that word again, Mother Maria cleverly says, "I speak English not so good." The two trade Bible verses to make their cases, and Mother Maria calls Homer's attention to some verses from Matthew, chapter 6, which Homer quotes back to her as his position weakens. (Note: Concisely, the Bible verses say believers should not worry about food and clothing, because God will provide for those of faith.) She tells Homer to go to sleep and that they need him to take them to Mass the next morning, which is Sunday. Homer says, "I'm a Baptist, I don't go to Mass." Mother Maria blesses him and walks away as she has before. Homer realizes he's lost and he tears up the bill. (Note: The nuns have been walking into town for Mass, and while I don't believe the distance is mentioned, it appears to be at least a couple of miles, so again, their dedication is seen.) 

Off the group goes to church the next morning, but it turns out the service is held outside in the little nearby town, because there is no shhapel... I mean, chapel. While Father Murphy says Mass, Homer goes into a little diner and orders a huge breakfast from the owner, named Juan, who is somewhat soured on religion, but he tells Homer the nuns have no money and that they escaped from East Germany, over the wall, and made it to the United States to take over this property which was left by the previous owner to a religious group in Germany in his will.**** So now Homer understands what the nuns have gone through and why they have such little food. He also begins to understand how Mother Maria's toughness has helped hold them together in the face of adversity, as the nuns intend to build a chapel on the land for the people to worship (later it is mentioned that Mother Maria wants to also build a school and a hospital). Just for the record, the nuns have a cow for milk, a few chickens for eggs and apparently little bits of food in donations. They are gardening to grow vegetables. The townspeople are mainly Latino and poor. Homer meets Father Murphy who travels and lives out of a trailer to go 400 miles a week to other such places to try to meet the spiritual needs of a poor population. He tells Homer that in his early days he prayed for a wealthy parish and that this was his answer. While Homer doesn't say much, he's clearly thinking about the whole situation and he keeps telling people, "I'm just passing through," when the subject of the chapel construction comes up, although the statement comes out of his mouth weaker and weaker.

They all return to the farm where the nuns gather to sing religious songs in Latin. Homer listens and the nuns ask him to sing a song. He teaches them the gospel song, "Amen," which had been around for more than a decade, but was made VERY popular by this movie. Homer has the nuns sing the constant "amen" refrain, and the upbeat tune delights the nuns, even the devout Mother Maria, who gradually begins to sing along. So, we have a black American Baptist singing along with five German-speaking Catholic nuns, who have come thousands of miles to tend to the spiritual needs of a poor Latino American community, with assistance from an Irish American priest. Anyway, Homer tells Mother Maria he's leaving, and she gets him to take her and one of the other nuns into town. She goes and talks to a construction company owner, Mr. Ashton, who offers Homer a job running a bulldozer, but not before a couple of things happen. First, Ashton calls Homer "Boy" twice,***** and Homer finally calls the man, "Boy," which makes a point. Second, Ashton tells Homer Mother Maria told him that Homer is the contractor for the nuns to build a chapel and he can't believe it (as a put down). This ruffles Homer's pride, so he doesn't deny that he is their contractor. Homer tells Ashton he'll take the bulldozing job for two days a week. Ashton asks what Homer is going to be doing the rest of each week, and he answers that he's going to be building a chapel. Homer bluntly tells Mother Maria he needs materials to build the chapel and he asks her if she can get them. Mother Maria determinedly answers, "Ja," German for "yes." She and the nuns begin writing to various foundations asking for financial assistance. Meanwhile, Homer works at the bulldozing job and earns his first pay. He buys lots of groceries, including some candy, and takes it all back to the farm. Mother Maria's stubbornness and religious devotion makes it hard for her to say "thank you," except to God. The problem is, there are no more bricks and lumber to continue building the chapel and Mother Maria's appeals have produced no financial help. The strain of the situation causes Mother Maria and Homer to quarrel and he angrily walks out, but not before telling her off about how she gives out orders and he compares her to Hitler.

Some time passes and still no help arrives and Homer does not return. Even Mother Maria is discouraged. The nuns again have to walk into town for Mass and the townspeople see that Homer is gone, and the assumption is, the chapel will not be completed. Then one Sunday as the nuns walk into town, here comes Homer. He stops and takes the nuns to Mass. The people see him and their spirits rise. The next day a pickup truck arrives filled with bricks, then others follow with bricks, lumber and church doors. When the townspeople offer their help, Homer turns them down, telling Mother Maria that she only contracted one man to build the chapel, but as the townspeople look on, Homer is weary and progress is slow with only him doing the work. Even Juan shows up and wants to help, soured on religion though he had become. Finally the people just begin working and Homer is discouraged out of vanity that he couldn't build the chapel himself. The workers mean well, but they have no supervision and they lack the vision of how the work should proceed. Juan tells Homer that he showed humility and came to help, even though he has little, if any, religious faith. He asks if Homer can show humility too, which Homer does, as he truly becomes the contractor, giving out orders and supervising the townspeople who do the work. In a turnabout, he says to Mother Maria, "You too, mach schnell (German for "hurry up")," prompting her to say, "Hitler!" Homer gives a big smile. Ashton asks Juan why he came to help and Juan says, "Insurance." Ashton doesn't understand and Juan tells him that he can't see beyond life now, but if those who believe in the hereafter are right, "I've paid my insurance." Shortly thereafter Ashton sends a truckload of bricks to the chapel site. He tells Homer and Juan the bricks are "seconds," but they're not, they are expensive bricks. Up until then, Ashton had made some donations to the nuns which he used as a tax write off, but now he makes this unconditional donation. Homer wonders why, and Juan tells him, "Insurance," but Homer doesn't understand and Juan leaves it at that. With the chapel built, Homer and the workers celebrate, much to the displeasure of Mother Maria who feels all celebration should be for God, not mortals. (During one of their earlier confrontations over Homer not building the chapel by himself, Homer tells her he has the desire to build some great building or other structure, and she says in her imperfect English, "God is building out there the shhapel and you sit here feeling sorry for yourself, because you are not Him.").****** 

The work gets done and the ever serious Mother Maria takes a checklist to Homer, but she finds that everything on the list has already been done, so there's nothing for her to complain about. Ashton has offered Homer a permanent job as a job foreman, and Homer declines it, but tells Ashton he really appreciates the offer. Homer has proven he's "a MAN, not a boy." The chapel will hold its first service the next day, and Homer sits with Mother Maria and the nuns in the farmhouse. During their English lesson, Homer mentions chapel with the German accent "shhapel," and Mother Maria corrects him by properly pronouncing it as "chapel." Homer then says with a German accent, "Sank you," and she properly says, "thank you," which brings a smile to Homer's face and a shocked expression to Mother Maria's face. She finally said "thank you" to Homer. The group begins to sing "Amen," and Homer gets up while continuing to sing, and he goes outside, puts his belongings into his car and he drives off.  

* On one of my trips to Germany many years ago, a German cousin was to pick me up at a bar... Hey, they had a pay telephone.. and beer. I no longer recall the name of the place, and it may well be gone by now anyway, but the owner asked my name and when I said, "Randy Smith," he laughed like hell. At first I thought my reputation had crossed the Atlantic, but then he said, "Ich heiße Rudi Schmidt, vielleicht sind wir irgendwie verwandt" ("My name is Rudi Schmidt, maybe we're somehow related"), so I got the point of his laughter.      

** There is no translation of Mother Maria's short prayer given in the movie, which I assume was deliberately done to leave non German speaking audience members in the same predicament as Homer, but events gradually show the gist of what was said.

*** "Hungaria" is the Latin form of Hungary. In standard German it is "Ungarn," but many years ago I was often around some immigrants here in Cleveland who were from the (largely former) German community in Hungary. They and their families had fled the advancing Russians at the end of World War Two and had first gone to West Germany and then to the United States. All of them used "Hungaria" when talking about Hungary, and it is not an uncommon word among people from Bavaria and Austria, where "perhaps" the strong Catholic tradition brought about the usage of the Latin term.

**** After World War Two ended, Germany was divided into occupation zones, with the eastern part being under Russian control (technically the USSR). The same was done with the city of Berlin, which, however, lay within the Russian zone. A native German communist government was put into power by the Russians to govern East Germany on a day-to-day basis and to support the USSR. Many Germans in the eastern sector moved into the western sector, occupied by the United States, Britain and France. The movement of people from East Germany to West Germany became so severe, the communist government erected a wall to divide the two German states and the city of Berlin, with communist propaganda stating the wall was to keep out unwanted elements and to prevent people from breaking into East Germany. It was all a bunch of nonsense, and it fooled no one, as the wall was put up to keep East Germans from fleeing to West Germany. Still, many Germans lost their lives trying to escape over the wall from East Germany, as border guards fired on those trying to escape.

***** For those unaware, the use of the term "Boy" for Black Americans by white, usually Southerners, made it a derogatory term in that usage, especially during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and beyond.

****** This is reminiscent of the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," where the central character, George Bailey, wants to leave his small town and design and build big projects, and it takes him time to finally see that the family business of building basic homes for average people IS a big and important project. In the end, when George is threatened, the townspeople remember his kindness and generosity and they rally to him, a tribute far better than any name in lights could ever be.

Photo is of the 2001 MGM Home Entertainment DVD

WORD HISTORY: 
Harp-The ultimate origins of this word are unknown. Old Germanic had "harpon," meaning, "harp." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hearpe," which then became "harpe" (the ending "e" was pronounced "eh/ah"), before the modern spelling. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Harfe," Low German has "Harp," West Frisian "harpe," Dutch "harp," Danish and Norwegian "harpe," Icelandic "harpa" and "hörpu," and Swedish "harpa." The verb form in Old English was "hearpian," and simply meant, "to play a harp," but by the 1400s the meaning, "to dwell on a subject over and over," developed and has continued to this day. Latin borrowed a form of the word as "harpa," which then passed into other Latin-based languages, including Italian "arpa," which then also produced Italian "arpeggio."