Wowww...This film was so intriguing and inspiring throughout! I definitely recommend for anyone struggling and has struggled with addiction, like myself, to let them know that there Is Hope in Jesus and Healing Is possible!! Heartbreaking? For sure, at times. Raw and honest? Absolutely. But still definitely worth the watch in my book! Loved this movie and the messages portrayed here! 9/10.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Grapes of Wrath
(1940)
Life is tough, especially during the Great Depression
5 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Contains spoilers:
This movie was released in 1940 and gives account of a family from Oklahoma during the Great Depression in the early 1930s. The lead character is Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda. Right after he gets out of prison for homicide, he returns home to his parents' house, only to find that they've been evicted and moved into Tom's uncle's house. A former preacher, Jim Casy, tags along to Uncle John's, and when they decide to all go to California to look for work and earn money, Casy travels with them all. When they start out, there are twelve people traveling in a raggedy-looking truck headed west. But by the near-end of the movie, there's only about 7 people left. Three people died, and two left the crew. The underlying message throughout the movie here is that life is hard, jobs are difficult to come by and keep, and the time they were living in made this family fall apart.
I think what made this film such a masterpiece, even though being in black and white, is that there are universal themes that can strike chords with almost everyone. There are "externally observable truths" in this movie as well as "internal truths of human nature," as the book calls them. The way things were back in the Great Depression was portrayed to be harsh, where policemen abused their legal authority, jobs were hard to come by, and families often disbanded. On the other hand, the way things should be seemed to only be dreams imagined by the people in the movie, with not many people holding onto the hope of a better future. Hence, this is a perfect explanation of why the Great Depression was called "The Great Depression." In line with the universal themes were the characters and their acting as well as the lighting and screenplay that made this film more than just average and why it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two of them. With Henry Fonda leading as Tom and the other characters all being a necessary part of the story, I thought that the acting was above average also. Then add in the lighting of the movie, and with certain scenes the lighting made the difference between a good scene and a great scene. I can see now why this film has gotten so much acclaim for the last eight decades.
I think what made this film such a masterpiece, even though being in black and white, is that there are universal themes that can strike chords with almost everyone. There are "externally observable truths" in this movie as well as "internal truths of human nature," as the book calls them. The way things were back in the Great Depression was portrayed to be harsh, where policemen abused their legal authority, jobs were hard to come by, and families often disbanded. On the other hand, the way things should be seemed to only be dreams imagined by the people in the movie, with not many people holding onto the hope of a better future. Hence, this is a perfect explanation of why the Great Depression was called "The Great Depression." In line with the universal themes were the characters and their acting as well as the lighting and screenplay that made this film more than just average and why it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two of them. With Henry Fonda leading as Tom and the other characters all being a necessary part of the story, I thought that the acting was above average also. Then add in the lighting of the movie, and with certain scenes the lighting made the difference between a good scene and a great scene. I can see now why this film has gotten so much acclaim for the last eight decades.
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