Sidney Poitier--who would later star in such unforgettable films as TO SIR WITH LOVE; GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER & IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT--won an Academy Award for best actor for his standout performance in this modest beautiful 1963 film LILIES OF THE FIELD is directed tenderly & with restraint by Ralph Nelson from a light-handed yet deeply effective screenplay by James Poe based on a novel by William E Barrett Poitier plays the role of Homer Smith a journeyman labourer who is roaming the countryside drifting & working One day he stops at a farm encountering five impoverished nuns Lilia Skala is formidable & endearing as Mother Maria the highest-ranking sister who is convinced that God has answered her prayers & sent Homer to fix the roof Staying & working in the peaceful calm of the Arizona desert Homer learns more from the nuns than he ever could have anticipated