Movie Review: The Grapes of Wrath
This is a decent movie. Not nearly as good as the book, and I think that influences my opinions of the movie as opposed to seeing the movie on it's own merits. At least I try to be honest about that bias!
Read the book before you see the movie. Read the book even if you never see the movie. There's no way to capture the pathos and heartbreak of John Steinbeck's novel. But John Ford makes a reasonable running jump at it in 128 minutes.
There are some beautiful shots cinematically in this movie. Long-range shots of individuals against a vast sky frame the movie, and appropriately so, in keeping with a theme of how small man is - whether in contrast with the inexorable pressures of life, at the hands of institutionalized greed, or in terms of character in perpetrating horrendous cruelty and exploitation against other human beings. There is also great use of lighting, particularly in regards to the former preacher, Casy (played by John Carradine). Characters - particularly Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) - move in and out of shadows and darkness throughout the movie, both literally and figuratively.
There are also some terrible shots that are obviously done on a sound stage (there is actually an echo when the characters speak). Henry Fonda gives a great performance, conveying a quiet intensity throughout the film as he seeks to understand the world he has re-entered after four years in prison. The main difficulty is that there is no way that the movie can adequately carry the exposition of the book, much of which is internalized. Characters that receive a little more treatment in the book are oddly incongruous in the film, coming to the forefront once or twice, ever-present and relatively pointless in the background.
The book rails against the exploitation of the poor and disadvantaged Okies - share-croppers in the Midwest, devastated by the massive change in agriculture from small farms to corporate conglomerates, and by the terrible winds that stripped the soil of the Midwest and made small-scale farming almost impossible. One of the interesting things about watching this from Netflix is that the DVD includes two screens of text that preceded the UK-release of the film, and sought to provide a historical context to it for those unfamiliar with the situation in the United States. I find it interesting that this prologue sought to ultimately exonerate some of the very forces of economy and business that Steinbeck clearly felt were to blame for the plight of the displaced farmers.
Philosophically and theologically, the film grapples with the nature of life and changing values in America. The exploitation of the Okies as they migrate to California is ruthlessly demonstrated, yet still muted compared to the book. Steinbeck clearly sees the dangerous alliance of industry and government that becomes possible, ensuring the continued suffering and deaths of citizens who have already lost everything, so that they appear to be not even human. Critical roles are those of Tom Joad, Casy, and Ma Joad.
Tom functions as a sort of Everyman, trying to make sense of things. He has an idea of how things ought to be or used to be, but is unsure of how to manage the personal and economic transitions and convulsions he is caught in the middle of. While mankind once fought off wild animals and other people to establish a stake in the world and eke out his daily bread, the poor are now faced with a far more menacing foe. This enemy has no body, but is rather a corporate entity. There's no one enemy to face down or kill - only the relentless, grinding machinations of industry. You can kill the parts, but the parts are replaceable. There is no reasoning with this entity - it is allied with the legal apparatus of the country as well.
Casy is an interesting character. He's a former preacher who baptized Tom as a young boy, but Casy has now "lost the Spirit", and doesn't preach any longer. He was and is haunted by the demons he has personally battled and often lost to. But he's seeking truth. He functions as a seer of sorts in the novel/movie, affirming the truth of what various characters express as they cross the Joad's path. And he ultimately 'sees the light', so to speak, in California, as he finds himself able to once again champion truth and rightness - a role that, like the Savior he once served, gets him killed. He seems truly gutted of the Christian faith he once served, and the hollowness of that void is profound. He's a shell of a man, but he realizes that he is a shell, and that he needs something inside of him. Like many others, he seems to find social justice as a suitable replacement.
Ma Joad (Jane Darwell) is the family glue. She holds the family together with her strength and determination. Where the men become disoriented as their roles in society are destroyed (bread-winner, provider), she steps into the gap their absent leadership creates, focusing on maintaining the family. But it's more than even her considerable strength can accomplish. The land formed a "boundary" that helped her create stability and enforce the routine and traditions that bind a family together. But without the land and that objective focus, there's no way to keep the family together. They fragment, lost in doubt and disappointment, felled by heartache and loss, scattered by their rage against the faceless, disembodied oppressiveness of a brutally capitalistic society. Grandparents die. In-laws desert. Tom leaves to protect his family and to search for truth, both to find it for himself and to share it with others. We may work to feed ourselves, but if we don't have a central truth to provide the grounding for our lives, even full stomachs ultimately aren't enough to keep a person going. A person can die long before their body stops working.
The brutality of this movie & book is driven home all the more by realizing that this occurred within living memory. There are still people who remember the Depression, who lived through it and bear witness to it. I've been blessed to have met and talked with some of them. And it happened here - in America. Important lessons to keep in mind when we try to fool ourselves into thinking that such abuses 'can't happen here', or that we've evolved beyond such responses. It could happen here - to you, to me. And how we respond to such a situation, and what role we take up within it, may be guided in large part by how diligently we have sought truth, and how tenaciously we hold on to it as the defining aspect of our lives, rather than visa versa.
Read the book before you see the movie. Read the book even if you never see the movie. There's no way to capture the pathos and heartbreak of John Steinbeck's novel. But John Ford makes a reasonable running jump at it in 128 minutes.
There are some beautiful shots cinematically in this movie. Long-range shots of individuals against a vast sky frame the movie, and appropriately so, in keeping with a theme of how small man is - whether in contrast with the inexorable pressures of life, at the hands of institutionalized greed, or in terms of character in perpetrating horrendous cruelty and exploitation against other human beings. There is also great use of lighting, particularly in regards to the former preacher, Casy (played by John Carradine). Characters - particularly Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) - move in and out of shadows and darkness throughout the movie, both literally and figuratively.
There are also some terrible shots that are obviously done on a sound stage (there is actually an echo when the characters speak). Henry Fonda gives a great performance, conveying a quiet intensity throughout the film as he seeks to understand the world he has re-entered after four years in prison. The main difficulty is that there is no way that the movie can adequately carry the exposition of the book, much of which is internalized. Characters that receive a little more treatment in the book are oddly incongruous in the film, coming to the forefront once or twice, ever-present and relatively pointless in the background.
The book rails against the exploitation of the poor and disadvantaged Okies - share-croppers in the Midwest, devastated by the massive change in agriculture from small farms to corporate conglomerates, and by the terrible winds that stripped the soil of the Midwest and made small-scale farming almost impossible. One of the interesting things about watching this from Netflix is that the DVD includes two screens of text that preceded the UK-release of the film, and sought to provide a historical context to it for those unfamiliar with the situation in the United States. I find it interesting that this prologue sought to ultimately exonerate some of the very forces of economy and business that Steinbeck clearly felt were to blame for the plight of the displaced farmers.
Philosophically and theologically, the film grapples with the nature of life and changing values in America. The exploitation of the Okies as they migrate to California is ruthlessly demonstrated, yet still muted compared to the book. Steinbeck clearly sees the dangerous alliance of industry and government that becomes possible, ensuring the continued suffering and deaths of citizens who have already lost everything, so that they appear to be not even human. Critical roles are those of Tom Joad, Casy, and Ma Joad.
Tom functions as a sort of Everyman, trying to make sense of things. He has an idea of how things ought to be or used to be, but is unsure of how to manage the personal and economic transitions and convulsions he is caught in the middle of. While mankind once fought off wild animals and other people to establish a stake in the world and eke out his daily bread, the poor are now faced with a far more menacing foe. This enemy has no body, but is rather a corporate entity. There's no one enemy to face down or kill - only the relentless, grinding machinations of industry. You can kill the parts, but the parts are replaceable. There is no reasoning with this entity - it is allied with the legal apparatus of the country as well.
Casy is an interesting character. He's a former preacher who baptized Tom as a young boy, but Casy has now "lost the Spirit", and doesn't preach any longer. He was and is haunted by the demons he has personally battled and often lost to. But he's seeking truth. He functions as a seer of sorts in the novel/movie, affirming the truth of what various characters express as they cross the Joad's path. And he ultimately 'sees the light', so to speak, in California, as he finds himself able to once again champion truth and rightness - a role that, like the Savior he once served, gets him killed. He seems truly gutted of the Christian faith he once served, and the hollowness of that void is profound. He's a shell of a man, but he realizes that he is a shell, and that he needs something inside of him. Like many others, he seems to find social justice as a suitable replacement.
Ma Joad (Jane Darwell) is the family glue. She holds the family together with her strength and determination. Where the men become disoriented as their roles in society are destroyed (bread-winner, provider), she steps into the gap their absent leadership creates, focusing on maintaining the family. But it's more than even her considerable strength can accomplish. The land formed a "boundary" that helped her create stability and enforce the routine and traditions that bind a family together. But without the land and that objective focus, there's no way to keep the family together. They fragment, lost in doubt and disappointment, felled by heartache and loss, scattered by their rage against the faceless, disembodied oppressiveness of a brutally capitalistic society. Grandparents die. In-laws desert. Tom leaves to protect his family and to search for truth, both to find it for himself and to share it with others. We may work to feed ourselves, but if we don't have a central truth to provide the grounding for our lives, even full stomachs ultimately aren't enough to keep a person going. A person can die long before their body stops working.
The brutality of this movie & book is driven home all the more by realizing that this occurred within living memory. There are still people who remember the Depression, who lived through it and bear witness to it. I've been blessed to have met and talked with some of them. And it happened here - in America. Important lessons to keep in mind when we try to fool ourselves into thinking that such abuses 'can't happen here', or that we've evolved beyond such responses. It could happen here - to you, to me. And how we respond to such a situation, and what role we take up within it, may be guided in large part by how diligently we have sought truth, and how tenaciously we hold on to it as the defining aspect of our lives, rather than visa versa.
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