Shadowlands

I watched a movie and it is called Shadowlands, directed by Richard Attenborough, released in 1993. It stars Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger and Edward Hardwicke. It is the story of the later part of professor and author C.S. Lewis’s life with his wife, Joy and how her death challenges his faith. It is an interesting movie in that it portrays Lewis as a man of particular traits and habits until he gets a letter from a woman in America that challenges him at every turn when they meet. It treats their story as something organic and indeed it builds and ebbs and flows in such a way that doesn’t seem forced in a movie conventional way. I’m not sure how much of it is truly based on their lives (as with all “true stories” kinds of movies and generally how people remember things) but it seemed genuine enough to me. I am familiar with C. S. Lewis through his critical work rather than the Narnia books. In fact, I owe him a debt of gratitude as his book, Miracles, helped me write a paper about the subject and get a decent grade on it at one of the colleges that I was attending while attempting to get my Master in Philosophy.
Attenborough uses an economy of shots but still using long takes of faces and places that really convey the human spirit of this movie. The acting is superb all around, from Hopkin’s Lewis being so aloof and so intellectual, Winger being so humble, abrasive but so loving after having such a terrible previous marriage, their chemistry so believable. The score is light and not at all overbearing.
I had seen this movie a few years ago on cable and was captivated by it and spent a number of years trying to find it again (I suppose it is out of print or something) because I didn’t get to finish it. I finally did and I feel better for it.
Like I said before, it may or may not hold true facts here and there but it might be a nice little movie to watch, if you are interested in some love story, heavy drama and want to see a little of what C.S. Lewis might’ve been like. Get some tissues though, fair warning.