Into the Wardrobe

I recently read a review online that hit the nail on the head:
1) It isn't accurate in it's portrayal of Jack before he meets Joy. It portrays him as a sort of recloose who spends all his time alone or w/ the inklings. It also makes it seem as if Jack was deathly afraid of spending time w/ women or children, something that was not true at all to my knowledge (his friendship with Dorothy Sayers seems to conflict w/ that idea)
2) It doesn't give an accurate picture of how he dealt with Joy's death. I felt that it basically gives you the first half of Grief Observed w/out the second part. It does take a few lines directly from the book but it doesn't show how Jack finally is able to reconcile her death with a good God. The movie almost makes one think that Jack renounced Christianity after Joy's death.

Personally though, w/ those two exceptions, I enjoyed it. Perhaps i need to read more about Jack and Joy but from what i could tell it was quite good and, at least as far as their relationship goes, quite accurate.

~jake

Phan and Bill gave good responses. The only point I'd add is that from all decriptions by the real Lewis' friends he was a much, much louder person than portrayed, and a much, much sloppier dresser. I think the common description of his apperance I've read was "a successful pig farmer". :)

The mainstream film "Shadowlands" was too Hollywood afied for me.
I liked the BBC production with Jos Akland alot better. Both however have gross inaccuracies.

There has been talk in the past about this issue because I remember being about the only person who unequivocally loved the movie. Besides the confession that at times when I watched it I thought they should have put a placard on Hopkins that read THIS IS C.S. LEWIS, I thought it was a wonderfully well written story that was very well acted. I admit that I do not know a great deal about Joy's personality but I thought it was not grossly inaccurate in its portrayel of Lewis and I thought D. Winger was GREAT. The thing I've always thought is that it was a love story, not a biography. The story was very carefully circumscribed so as to bring out the essence of the love story. I like this quote from Nikos Kazantzakis from his prologue to Saint Francis, "If I have omitted many of Francis' sayings and deeds and if I have altered others, and added still others which didn't take place but which might have taken place, I have done so not out of ignorance, or impudence or irreverence, but from a need to match the Saint's life with his myth, bringing that life as fully into accord with its essence as possible." I think this is very much to the point and the objections many raise against the movie. Doesn't all historical DRAMA, whatever the format, do just that? Don't many of the stories Lewis loved most do this? Shakespeare, Scott, and Longfellow? And I think it was a very subtle and nuanced interpretation of many things Lewis both said and did. Sublime.

I found the movie extremely moving. It was what got me back to reading Lewis after a long period of "neglect." It also helped a number of other people become interested in his works for the first time. If for no other reason, there is great value in it.

I am another who loves the film for itself, and who has also been profoundly influenced by it. My first viewing of it, many years ago, resulted in the saving of my marriage, a renewed interest in CSL and his beliefs and writings, and ultimately in my turning away from a quasi-christian heresy that I had been a part of for over 20 years.

Inaccurate and fictionalized it certainly is, but a copy of it has pride of place in my growing CSL collection - and the music is nothing short of divine!

I have to admit that I'm not as versed in the facts about Lewis's life as I would like to be. I just watched Shadowlands for the first time this past weekend, however, and like it. It is a good movie and worth watching for the dramatical features, even if not completely accurate. [/i]