John Oliver Beyond Narnia is a captivating movie where C. S. Lewis is presented as an older man looking back and telling the story of his life. There are cuts back and forth from the autobiographical narrator and those acting out the scenes.Over the years I have seen several videos about C. S. Lewis. I have read many hundreds of pages. And here are all the facts told in an orderly way. The film is easy to understand and very engaging. The sets and costumes help tell the visual story as the narrator talks.This movie is recommended for all those who want to understand the live of C S Lewis both as the writer of the Narnia Chronicles as well as his many other books. Understanding his spiritual pilgrimage can provide a greater context to more fully appreciate the soil of his life that the fruits of his labors came from in his complex walk with God.

scifianon 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.

bob the moo 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.

whistlestop 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!