There can be little doubt that Sir Anthony Hopkins is one the great actors of our time - he has proven it again and again in roles both large and small, and most particularly in those quieter, more serious films like "The Remains of the Day" and "Shadowlands" both of which I saw again recently and was again, deeply moved. Here, I'd like to talk about Shadowlands because it is likely the lesser seen of the two and most especially by younger people.
To understand the full complexity of the love story or perhaps, love stories, in Shadowlands you must first understand something of the writer C.S. Lewis - author best known for the Narnia chronicles, beginning with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", a book I remember reading as a child, and for many months perhaps years that followed and even now, trying to push my way through the back of the wardrobe in my bedroom (in England we still had those freestanding wardrobes - a kind I haven't seen much of in America, alas.). Mine was in my bedroom and stacked heavily with the riches just as in the book; old coats, my grandmother's one fur, her funny fox-fur stoles that had the head of the fox still on them and the tails, six of them strung together to form a kind of dead fox scarf that was, remarkably, at some point in time considered the epitome of fashion. I remember their dead, glassy eyes. But what I remember most is the many nights I climbed into that wardrobe, hoping like hell that this time, the back of the wardrobe would give and I would find myself in the enchanted, snowy land of Narnia where I meet all of the magical occupants and stay awhile and have great adventures. I'm quite sure that almost every child who read the Narnia chronicles, if they had a wardrobe of even glimpsed one, were just twitching trying to push through the fur and into their private Wonderland.
But though C.S. Lewis was incredibly famous for these books, he was more than this. He had started out as an atheist, ("a lapsed atheist" he would joke) and later in life became deeply and profoundly religious but not in any conventional sense. Lewis, as the story in Shadowlands lays out so well, believed that our God "wants us to suffer." Our God is not a nurturing god who is there to coddle us. Hopkins plays this role with all of the fervor, intelligence and charm of C.S. Lewis - the duality of the man- and this makes for what in so many ways is perhaps the role of a lifetime for Hopkins (barring Remains of the Day in which he is also absolutely outstanding). But in Shadowlands, we see and more importantly perhaps, through Hopkins, we hear the words of C.S. Lewis spoken with authority. God wants us to suffer, he tells us. God wants us to "get out of the nursery and to grow up." OF course, I happen to believe this. He deals with the unfairness of the world - when someone asks, "how could God let that happen…" a question we hear again and again and a fair one, of course. If there is a God, how could he let us suffer? To which Lewis replied, as Hopkins replies authoritatively, Because God wants us to learn and to grow through suffering, for it is only through our suffering that we find each other and that we find love, we find other people.
Article comments
1 - katia
hello. thanks for your great review. i just saw this movie for the first time today and loved it. one thing: i am wondering if you know the exact quote that CS Lewis says in the movie regarding shadowlands--something about we live in a world of shadowlands..... I cant find the exact quote anywhere. thank you in advance. K
2 - sadi
off the top of my head, i do no now the quote, but i'll do some research and see if i can find what you are looking for...
give me a day or so.
cheers,
sadi
3 - John Ferry
Hello Sadi,
there is a quote in this movie.
something like I dan't pray for god to change things I pray because it changes my perspective
something like that. Can you help?
Thanks,
John
can
4 - sade
hi there ~~ try this link and see if it can help you ~
it has many C.S. Lewis quotes . . . i off the top of my head do not know this quote. sorry i cannot be of more help than this..
cheers, and best of luck with this... post back if you DO find it. That would be super.
sadi
5 - Sophie
Hi Katia,
I love this quote,part 6 or 7 in shadowlands on you tube-
"We live n the Shadowlands,the sun is always shining somewhere else, around the bend in the road,over the row of the hill.."
Sophie)
6 - Sophie
"over the brow of the hill" that should read..