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The Magic Never EndsThat C.S. Lewis magicTHE MAGIC NEVER ENDS Not only have C.S. Lewis's books steadily taken on a global popularity, but he was reluctantly one of the first major media evangelists - with huge audiences for his wartime BBC radio broadcasts. And the media have not ignored him. There have been two film versions of 'Shadowlands', and a major film of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is in the very early stages of preparation. John Cleese narrated the audiobook of 'The Screwtape Letters'. DocumentaryA timely new film documentary has just been launched, 'The Magic Never Ends', made by The Duncan Group, with an attractive companion book of the same name. The book, like the film, describes itself as 'an oral history of the life and work of C.S. Lewis'. Both are skilfully compiled by John Ryan Duncan. The film is narrated by Ben Kingsley. This one-hour documentary was completed in October 2001 and is due to appear on public television nationwide in the USA in the autumn, a mark of deep interest in the life and work of C.S. Lewis in a country which sets the trends, good and bad, for the rest of the world. The film features extensive interviews with leading scholars on the work of C.S. Lewis, including Lyle Dorsett, Christopher Mitchell, Walter Hooper, Dabney Hart and British academic Colin Manlove. It also features interviews with actress Debra Winger (from the movie 'Shadowlands') as well as C.S. Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham. The film chronicles Lewis's life from his early days in Ireland, through his military service, to his outstanding career at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Many of his books are highlighted in some detail, including 'The Chronicles of Narnia', 'Mere Christianity', 'The Screwtape Letters' and 'A Grief Observed'. The documentary also provides some useful insights into The Inklings - a group of mainly literary friends of Lewis's, including J.R.R. Tolkien, The Kilns (Lewis's Oxford home), and Lewis's now famous relationship with and marriage to New York novelist, poet and single parent, Joy Davidman Gresham, featured in 'Shadowlands'. Filmmaker John Ryan Duncan faced some enormous difficulties, artfully non-apparent in the production. One obvious one is that most people who knew Lewis are now dead. Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham, Dabney Hart and Walter Hooper, however, are able to provide living memories, though the last two only knew or met him briefly. Shame on BritsAnother difficulty is that most of the scholarly interest in Lewis (shame on us Brits) has been in the USA. The Wade Collection, in the American Mid-West, for instance, had the foresight and wisdom to set up a collection of Lewis papers many years ago. It includes an unpublished memoir of C.S. Lewis by his brother, Warren Lewis, and Warren's valuable diaries, personally donated to the Collection. John Duncan tries to redress the balance by his inspired choice of Ben Kingsley as narrator, and making use of leading Lewis scholar Colin Manlove, who, until he took early retirement to write, was Reader in English at Edinburgh University. So if British viewers get irked by the number of American talking heads in the film, they should reflect that a more proper response is to feel gratitude for the quality of this production, and annoyance that Lewis has not been adequately recognised in his native land (except, of course, by numerous children who have relished the Narnian Chronicles). Brits Sir Richard Attenborough, and Norman Stone also de-serve credit for their productions of Shadowlands. (On the irk factor, however, in one place the book and film refer to the Oxford University 'campus'. Usually however it conveys the places in Lewis's life very well.) I would have liked to see use of Warren Lewis's diaries in the film, as they constitute the most important oral history we have of C.S. Lewis. Companion volumeThe companion book incorporates the interviews included in the film and much more. The material is well organised and inspired. The idea of an oral history element is a very good one, giving the book a freshness and accessibility, making it a suitable popular introduction to the rich and often complex world of C.S. Lewis. The choice of the interviewees allows a breadth of perspective, as documentaries featuring a lot of talking heads can easily get soggy. The film was also leavened with refreshing location shots, featuring places associated with Lewis's life. I was impressed with Debra Winger. Though her entry is as a conscientious interpreter of Joy Davidman Gresham in 'Shadowlands', she is convincing in her understanding of Lewis. Credible enthusiasmThe website of the film (www.DuncanEntertainment.com) features a fuller interview with her, where she is asked: 'Having studied Joy and Lewis, what appeals to you personally about his work?' Debra Winger replies, 'I ended up reading everything he's ever written. I related to Joy; I believe that, probably, a similar thing happened to her. I couldn't stop reading them - I think because of the parts of me that he was able to reach. You know, we're all made up of so many parts and yearn to be whole. probably all our lives. (Then) you find one writer that appeals to so many parts, and I think that reflects about him as a person as well. And for me the way in was humour, and "The Screwtape Letters" had me laughing out loud.' Her enthusiasm for Lewis is very credible. With some of the interviewees, however, their occasionally unmeasured claims about Lewis's greatness are off- putting. One describes Lewis as 'a conduit of the Holy Spirit' and another confesses that he addressed a prayer to C.S. Lewis when he learned he had died. This is a pity because the documentary and book do make a very good attempt to capture the elusive nature of Lewis's patent greatness. Colin DuriezColin is the author of 'The C.S. Lewis Encyclopedia' (2002), from which the illustration on this page is taken, 'The Inklings Handbook' (with David Porter, 2001), and 'Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings' (2001). © Evangelicals Now - September 2002 |