Lilies of the Field



From 1950 to 1980, Sidney Poitier ranked among the top American film stars (No Way Out, Blackboard Jungle, Edge of the City, The Defiant Ones, Raisin in the Sun, Paris Blues, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). In Lilies of the Field, Poitier has another of his classic roles where he plays an itinerant worker who helps refugee East European nuns build a chapel in Arizona. The nuns cannot pay him for the work and implore him to do so by citing various Biblical verses (Sermon on the Mount). Poitier, for his part, is moved by their plight but also wants to demonstrate his skills as an architect and builder. The film serves as a parable highlighting mutual respect via common purpose, the austere Arizona desert landscape, the impoverished nuns, and a man they believe God sent to help them.

For his portrayal, Poitier became the first African American to win the Oscar for best actor.

Lilies of the Field was named to the National Film Registry in 2020.