Rainbow Room
Friday, March 9, at 7:00 pm
C.S. Lewis was a well-known author of children’s stories, most famously The Chronicles of Narnia; and Christian apologetics, most famously Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. But he also wrote The Problem of Pain, an earnest, intelligent, but somewhat pat effort to explain the age-old question of how a benevolent God can allow such terrible human suffering. For most of his life, Lewis—“Jack” Lewis to his colleagues and friends—lived a cozy life as an Oxford professor of literature and designed that life so as to avoid any personal encounters with problem of pain.
Then came Joy Gresham, who in some ways was Jack’s opposite—brash where Jack was restrained, for example; and in other ways his equal, particularly in her quick intelligence.
Shadowlands depicts the true story of the relationship between Jack (portrayed by Anthony Hopkins) and Joy (Debra Winger). They meet after she writes him an admiring letter. Their correspondence leads to her first visit to England with her 12-year old son Douglas in tow, escaping an abusive marriage. Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) is surprised to discover that, unlike the fictional wardrobe that leads into Narnia, Lewis’s wardrobe leads nowhere. Joy is surprised to discover the comfortable rut Jack is in: the dinners at his college dining hall, the evenings in front of the fire listening to classical music, his brother “Warnie” (Edward Hardwicke) his only close friend. Jack is astonished to discover, gradually, first how much he enjoys Joy’s friendship and later how completely in love with her he has fallen.
Shadowlands tells how Jack is able to leave his comfortable, well-barricaded life, and risk the human suffering he has only written about before.
Directed by Richard Attenborough, Shadowlands won critical acclaim when released in 1993. It is rated PG (for mild profanity). It will be shown in the Rainbow Room on Friday, March 9, at 7:00 pm. Refreshments will be provided. If you would like to attend and need childcare, contact Mark Grimsley at christopher.grimsley@gmail.com