C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia

CS (Jack) Lewis, an Oxford don who died 40 years ago, is in the news because the latest filmed version of his famous children's novel, "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" (filmed in New Zealand, of all places) has become a box office success. Norman Stone, who in 1985 directed "Shadowlands", an excellent TV movie based on Lewis's relationship with his American fan and eventual lover Joy Gresham (with Joss Ackland and Clair Bloom in the leading roles), has given us a re-run of that film but this time as a dramatized documentary with Anton Rogers as an elderly Jack Lewis taking us through his story. And it is an interesting story.

Jack Lewis came from a prosperous and happy Belfast protestant family (his father was a solicitor) but at the age of 10 his mother, who he adored, died of cancer. He and his brother Warnie were sent away to a succession of nasty boarding schools, until their father decided a private tutor might be the answer and sent Jack to his former headmaster, the elderly but dynamic "Knock" who was a teacher of genius. Wounded in the trenches in WW I, Jack went to Magdelene ("Maudlin") College Oxford and racked up an almost unheard of triple first in Moderations (Greek & Latin Literature), Greats (Philosophy and Ancient History) and English.. He settled down to the comfortable life of an Oxford don, but his early atheism gave way to deep Christian belief and he produced some notable works on Christian themes, as well as the allegorical children's stories, "Chronicles of Narnia.". He had a long and stormy friendship with another great fantasy writer, JRR Tolkien, also an Oxford don.

His personal life was a little less comfortable. For 30 years he lived with and supported the difficult and demanding mother of Paddy Moore, Jack's best friend, killed in WW I. Then in 1952 he met Joy Gresham a brash American divorcée in her 30s he had corresponded with, and her sons Douglas and David. At first just friends (though he married her in 1956 so that she could stay in Britain) he fell in love with her after she became seriously ill with cancer. They married again, this time for real. She went into remission and they had a couple of happy years together before she died in 1960. At 62 Jack was a widower with two teenage step-sons to look after.

The story is told in flashbacks, with Jack to camera, radiating sincerity, providing the links, and occasional contributions from biographers, scholars and friends, including Joy's son Douglas. Given the producers of the film are the Faith and Values Group, a certain amount of religiosity is present though it would have to be described as a soft sell. What is interesting is the comparison with the earlier "Shadowlands" – the play by William Nicholson, Nicholson and Stone's 1985 TV movie mentioned above, and the 1993 movie directed by Richard Attenborough from Nicholson's script. The early works tend to concentrate on the personal story of Jack and Joy, while this version gives more of Jack's life and beliefs. In fact it is vastly more informative.

Being a fine writer ("The Screwtape Letters" is a masterpiece of persuasion) Lewis became a very influential Christian figure in the 20th century. He is, via the Narnia stories, as widely read as ever. If you want to know what it is to be a Christian he's your man.

This is a beautifully made docu-drama. Anton Rodgers plays CS Lewis, and tells the story of his life and beliefs from his armchair at "The Kilns", supposedly in 1963 just before his death. It's more accurate than "Shadowlands", although that is a wonderful film too. This one includes both the Gresham boys, whereas only Douglas was shown in the other film. Rodgers looks a lot more like pictures of Lewis than Anthony Hopkins did, and the movie was largely filmed at the actual house in Oxford. My only protest is that Joy Gresham is shown smoking a cigarette, although she never smoked in her life. Lewis and Warnie, of course, smoked constantly. I found it very moving, and also funny at just the right moments. If you get a chance to see it, you won't be disappointed if you're a Lewis fan like me! I hope they bring it out on DVD!

From the comfort of his rocking chair in front of a good fire while a cold snap settles in outside, CS Lewis recalls his own story – a story equally as interesting as anything he has written. Starting out with his childhood in Belfast and his love affair with stories and books, Lewis weaves in his relationship with God and the loss of his mother early on. His story jumps through his education to his adult life, the creation of Narnia and his love of an American called Joy.

Starting with Lewis as a boy and ending with him close to the time of his death, 60 minutes was always going to be a push to do a job on his story. Although the time and the approach has built in weaknesses to the telling, generally it works pretty well. The narration is an obvious tool to use to condense a narrative without losing the links between scenes (even if they often jump years) but it works and provides a thread to follow for the duration. It naturally does prevent depth in the scripting but the strength of Rodgers' performance covers it up by supplying enough emotion to isolated scenes to hook me in the character. He can't stop the film feeling rushed and very squashed up on itself but he does enough to make individual scenes work well and keep the film flowing. The support cast aren't quite as good but nobody is bad and standard is mostly Rodgers' to set.

The material is occasionally weak and some parts of it don't convince. I'm not sure if it is Rodgers or the script but the film places God into two clear sections and didn't flow with either of them. Rodgers tries hard to make it work but it just doesn't sound right when he says it. Generally though the film summarises things well and provided a good background to Lewis as a person. Those with more knowledge of him will not be that taken in mainly because of the rushed sweep it has but it served me well as an introduction to the man who is currently in favour again thanks to the film version of his book.

The narration may be an obvious tool but Rodgers makes it work well and although the direction is simple, it is suitable for the TV presentation. Worth a look if your first contact with Lewis has been the recent film but just be prepared for the weaknesses that come with the positives.

It was very touching to here the story with the narration. You see in his life the reflection of the things he wrote about. It brings me to tears. His life seems so unreal, how he touched so many lives because his life had been touched by Jesus, but Jesus working through others such as Tolkien. I wish people could view this and take away the same sense of divinity Lewis himself felt about life; both its joys and sorrows. Thanks to TBN I got to see this wonderful and poetic biographical account of the physical and spiritual triumphs and trials of one man's life that is echoed in all of our own. He is one of my favorite apologists because he was so human and this displays eloquently his Christian humanity. It is unfortunate however, that his stepsons have drifted from one another.