A couple weeks ago, Dr. McCoy raised an important question about the 1963 film, Lilies of the Field:
“Who is this movie for?
While the question initially eluded me, I believe that I have reached an answer.
Lilies of the Field tells the story of a traveling handyman named Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) who gets involved with a group of German nuns living in the southwestern United States. After Smith helps a group of nuns fix their roof, the head nun, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) is convinced that Smith has been sent by God to build a chapel for their convent. However, Smith is reluctant to do so since the nuns refuse to pay him, leading to a series of events that end up with Smith finally building a chapel for the nuns.
This synopsis might seem innocuous, even charming at first glance. However, the real issue can be found in the details of the film.
When the movie begins, Homer Smith is a drifter and a wanderer. He has absolute freedom to do as he pleases and yet the film portrays this as a bad thing. After getting involved with the convent, Smith performs a multitude of household chores for the nuns, teaches them English and also drives them to and from church services, singing as he does so. Yet Smith receives no compensation for any of this. When Smith tries to leave, the film depicts as him being selfish and single-minded. Smith is expected to do this work for free and to be satisfied with that.
I believe that these expectations placed on Smith are because of his race. At the start of the film, Homer Smith is a free and independent black man who pursues his own interests on his own time. Not only does this film rob him of that independence, but it communicates that his independence is meaningless and insignificant. Smith’s subservience to these white nuns is portrayed as something he has to deal with, something that he is wrong for disliking.
That brings me to Dr. McCoy’s question, who was this made for? I believe that this movie was created for a white audience that was uncomfortable seeing and self-reliant black man in cinema. Homer Smith’s treatment exists for people to rationalize and justify their prejudiced beliefs. It presents black subservience as an acceptable social order and creates a sanitized and prejudiced form of reality. While Homer Smith might be a free man, the world expects him to be a slave to people who fail to give him the respect or compensation he deserves.