When the name Debra winger comes to mind, immediately the trifecta of Urban Cowboy, Officer and Gentlemen and terms of endearment comes to mind. However, she is much more than that. Shadow lands deserves the same attention as those movies of her. Shadow-lands is one of the most beautiful movies in terms of portraying human emotions and is equally beautiful as her earlier ToE. Even with similar subject matters, Joy is very different from Emma and CS Lewis is no Flap Horton. Anthony Hopkins does complete 360 from his character as the scary Hannibal Lecter to the very sympathetic CS Lewis. There is a scene at the end where his timing and acting is just beautiful. However, it is not just the performance of the leads that is beautiful; it is movie as whole, the music, the cinematography that makes it beautifully vibrant movie.

I'm impressed with the volume of favorable reviews of this film. If you've gone this far, there's no reason at all for me to rehash the plot, the marvelous acting, or the directorial skills displayed here. If I may add something new to the reviews, I would like to say that it's a sad world where Anthony Hopkins is much more known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lechter in The Silence Of The Lambs franchise. I despised those movies, not because I don't like horrific flicks. Check out my other reviews if you think I'm a sob sister who just can't take it. But this is not a review of those films, so I'll proceed...What makes this film rise to greatness is it's portrayal of a man who thinks he has life, the universe, and everything, all wrapped up in a tidy intellectual package, and then finds himself doing and feeling things which force him to completely reevaluate the foundations of his life and faith. I can't help but think that there are many Christians who considered the subject of C. S. Lewis to be safe ground to venture through. Those who only know him through his Narnia stories, and the approval given for those films by their clergy, must have been quite surprised to find the man willing to break immigration laws to wed a somewhat bohemian woman for reasons of citizenship. I hope that those who first recoil at the truth of his life, grow as Lewis did as he faced the contradictions to his smug, self satisfied, view of himself and his faith. If you're a macho man who can't imagine himself capable of crying at a film, get ready to have the rug pulled out from under your pretension. This film hits notes of truth in sadness that are specifically male, and completely missing from 99.99% of cinematography. You will cry not because you are manipulated, but because you recognize yourself in this gentle intellectual facing the glory of love, the pain of unfair tragedy, and the responsibility that endures beyond the drama. Whoever you are, whatever you believe, watch this wonderful film. Share it with a loved one.

Movies don't always have to have an exciting premise. Sometimes a touching romance is not about two passionate young lovers but about an older couple finding each other long after their well-travelled youth. Shadowlands does not even have The African Queen's adventuresome setting, being set amid the quietness of 1950s Oxford. And yet it has on its side exceptional writing, deep humanity and good taste. Based by writer William Nicholson on an episode in the life of author C.S. Lewis, every scene is like a warm and meticulously sculpted syllabub, a little slice of human interaction that, whether joyful, angry or sad seems shot through with affection and universal truth.The picture benefits considerably from the sublime tranquillity of its lead man Anthony Hopkins. Blessed with such a piercing gaze, Hopkins has never needed to do anything ostentatious to hold our attention, but this is not to say his acting is simple. Shadowlands sees him moving in the depths of serene understatement, portraying a man not so much repressed as sparing in his emotional expression. When he does have a few outbursts towards the end of the movie, the effect hits us all the harder. On the other hand, Debra Winger seems to me a rather lazy choice for the role of Joy Gresham, since her most successful role prior to that had been in Terms of Endearment as another woman dying of cancer. She gives a decent account of herself though, showing us a woman with a hard exterior around a warm heart.Richard Attenborough has never been anything more than a mediocre director of drama or comedy or action, or anything. But he does have a few exceptional qualities, and one is the beauty with which he endows his work. There are several moments in Shadowlands, such as when Hopkins and Winger ascend a narrow staircase onto a tower top, or wend their way through the Herefordshire countryside, that something quietly breathtaking will slowly steal across the shot. Attenborough gives us a feeling of awe at landscapes and cityscapes without drawing too much obvious attention to them. Above all he directs with a slow subtlety that grants the picture its necessary dignity. One of the strangest things about it all was that when he helmed this movie he had just come back from playing a man with a bad Scots accent in Jurassic Park.Despite being all about the man, Shadowlands barely mentions the high fantasy of Lewis's Narnia novels for which he is best-known. The fact that he is famous for his work in fact seems entirely inconsequential to the story. Rather, it's the case that a handful of real events of his life have provided a story in themselves. This is a picture that is often profoundly moving in its normality.

A very solid biopic about writer C.S. Lewis and his relationship with a spunky American.This is one of two great performances Anthony Hopkins gave in 1993, the other being "The Remains of the Day." Debra Winger had a bit of a career comeback playing said spunky American, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for this role. Does Winger have a clause in her contract that says whenever she plays a character who dies slowly of cancer she MUST be nominated for an Oscar? Richard Attenborough directed this in a very British way, so it's a bit too slow and tasteful. But it's well written and acted and should satisfy those who are drawn to movies with a literary bent.Grade: B+