Richard Attenborough
Shadowlands

"The more you love, the more you'll suffer from parting. It's very painful, but you must learn to accept it." 

C.S. Lewis

According to English writer C.S. Lewis, our reality is just a pale and blurred depiction of the true world, which is barred from us; he asserts this in his saga "The Chronicles of Narnia," where all other worlds are merely "shadowlands." "Shadowlands" is the title of a play inspired by a part of the writer's life that became a film of the same name in 1993, released in Italy inexplicably with the empty and vague title "Visa to England." The film is a journey through the land of shadows, an internal journey that Lewis is forced to take after a painful experience that will change his view of life.

The film tells us about the relationship between the British writer (Anthony Hopkins) and American poet Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), a relationship that united them for a decade from 1950 to 1960, the year of her death from bone cancer. Their story is an opportunity to reflect and bring to light some themes that characterized the writer's thinking, especially the meaning of religion, the role of God in human life, the reason for the very existence of a creator and his creatures, the cruelty of this entity "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." Lewis argues that pain is God's megaphone to make his presence felt. The film touches on this point insistently to focus on the trials this man must endure to remain faithful to his ideological path, which led him from initial youthful atheism to the conviction of the existence of God. Don't get me wrong; it’s not a philosophical sermon. On the contrary, it flows very smoothly in its two hours, having the merit of focusing intensely on observing the two protagonists and their quiet love, never pushed to extremes of emotion—a true and gentle feeling that fits perfectly into the frame of the English countryside, a land of shadows and light. Those who love slow narrative rhythms, intense and strongly expressive languages will find many interesting elements in this film, a movie with a typically British soul, controlled and well-directed with very beautiful cinematography appreciated even more on DVD.

Hopkins and Winger are two excellent actors and here they showcase all their talent; Winger returns to portray a strong, vibrant, and passionate female figure after "Terms of Endearment," the outcome of the two stories will be the same but with different final connotations up to a certain point because the void left in the lives of those who knew them will be the same. In conclusion, a great film, recommended to those who love to ask questions and seek answers, to those who live life in search of stories to enrich themselves and enrich others, and above all to those who love the works of C.S. Lewis.