Shadowlands

DIRECTION 48% Sweet and natural looking period drama.

ACTING 86% You can't go wrong with Hopkins and the other supports don't distract from this man.

EDITING/SPECIAL EFFECTS 15% Not needed here that much.

PLOT 87% A true story about C. S. Lewis.

STRONG WORDS AND VIOLENCE ETC N/A.

MUSIC 92% Classical variations to bring the BIG church traditional music to life and glorious wonder.

SOUND 10% Natural sounds for natural people.

HOOKABILITY 79% Love the music, love the start!

LASTABILITY 85% If you don't already know the story you will want to see the end.

OVERALL 82% Good adaptation of a true story, not disappointing but could have been better if more of his personal christian experiences were related to the viewer.

Shadowlands started out as a 1986 BBC television film. Actor Joss Ackland regarded playing CS Lewis as one of his favourite roles.

William Nicholson later adapted his own screenplay for a movie version directed by Richard Attenborough. This was a small chamber piece for a director better known for epics with a cast of thousands.

For Anthony Hopkins it was another opportunity to show he can do subtle and nuance after winning an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs.

Inspired by the true story of dusty dry Oxford academic CS Lewis. Who fell in love with divorced American poet Joy Gresham in 1950s Britain.

It is a story of how a middle aged man, known for his children books. Turned friendship into a marriage of convenience (in order for Joy to remain in Britain.) To romance by which time she is dying of cancer.

Just as Hopkins did in 84 Charing Cross Road. It is a portrait of a hemmed in repressed grey 1950s Britain. In this case the upper echelons of academia which seemed to have been consisted of single old men.

The acting is top notch. The direction is retrained. It's a bit of a tearjerker.

In 1993 Anthony Hopkins played a similar character in two films, and he did it brilliantly.

The character was that of a bachalor in his 50's, obsessed with his work and for the first time in his life confronted with serious attention from a woman. In both films they are very frightened that a wife will disturb the peace of their bachelor existence.

In "The remains of the day" Hopkins plays the butler Stevens and he repels the female overtures, only to be sorry later in life.

In "Shadowlands" Hopkins plays the Oxford professor and fantasy writer Jack Lewis. Lewis is more courageous and allows love into his life, only to lose it a few years later.

When I write that Lewis allows love into his life, this sounds a little more smoothly than it actually was. He sees his marriage with Joy Gresham (Debra Winger) initially as a technical marriage, intended to help her obtain a residence permit in England. He even refuses to have a drink with her after the formalities are done. In reality the marriage was never a technical one, but the time Lewis needs to admit that to himself is the best part of the movie.

When we somewhat expand on the discription of the character given above and include all characters who seem to be self assured verbally but are insecure in reality, Hopkins role as the title character in "Nixon" (1995, Oliver Stone) fits in line. It is impressive how Hopkins communicates the insecurity deep inside with little gestures

In my review of "The remains of the day" I praised the chemistry between main actors Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. In my review of "Shadowland" I am only talking about Anthony Hopkins. That may sound unfair to Debra Winger, and it probably is, but for me "Shadowland" is the film of Hopkins.

Jack Lewis was an historical person. The combination of Oxford professor and writer of fantasy sounds like J. R. R Tolkein and in fact Lewis was a colleague of Tolkien. His best well known fantasy fiction is "The chronicles of Narnia" (1950 - 1956). More interesting in relation to "Shadowlands" is however his philosophical essay "The problem of pain" (1940) in which he tries to reconcile the Goodness of God with the existence of pain. In his "A grief observed" (1961) it is evident that experiencing the illness and death of his wife Joy had drastically altered his opinion about the purpose of human suffering.