Nomadland is as Unique as a

Movie about Homelessness Gets

Nomandland is a 2021 drama directed by Chloé Zhau and starring Frances McDormand and

David Strathairn”. Nomadland is based on a book by the same title by “Author Jessica Bruder.

The story is based on real life people who live as nomads roaming from place to place and

rather than live in traditional housing or because of financial difficulties they choose to live the

van life out of their automobiles. The movie follows the lead character Fern who is displaced by

unforeseen life happenings and takes to the road in her van.

The movie is a montage of people and places that she comes upon on her amazing epic

journey. Many of the people she meets up with on her way are acting but are playing themselves

and are in fact real life nomads. This fact changes the dichotomy of the movie to that of a partial

documentary as inevitably these characters are built by their own stories that they tell.

The setting takes the audience form the foggy snow dusted abandoned town of Empire

Nevada where the mine that supported the town's inhabitants has closed down from the housing

recession, to the rocky and dry badlands of South Dakota and landing in desolate Quartzsite,

Arizona where there is an annual gathering of nomadic people that show a true sense of

community that bring together these lonely souls.

The cinematography and movie score have nice orchestral moments with spatterings of

western folk with a sublime non CGI movie film of beautiful but dry Western Middle America.
The feelings generated to the audience are genuine and range through most all of human

emotions along the way. The reminiscing and storytelling are surreal and so human in nature and

much worth the experience of watching the day to day happenings with no way to guess what

will happen next.

The only critical miss in my opinion is that it is hard to find a viable conflict which makes

the audience feel slightly left out at times. Without giving up the storyline I highly recommend

this movie and dare to call it an instinct classic.

The audience gets an inside glimpse of what life can have in store for a person and how it

might be to be homeless and on the road. Fern the main character would rather work than retire

early and rather be on the move than longer in a stationary box of a home in the middle of

nowhere. Fully able to work it is often seasonal transitory work when she could get it. Though

offered places to stay she powers on in her nomadic ways making the best of life as it is that she

can. There are moments of desperation and talks of death and suicide but that is not the focus,

the focus lies more about what is enough of a life lived and how to minimize ones existence in

freedom. I like the quote from Roger Ebert.com’s Editor Brian Tellerico that said, It’s a beautiful

film to just to experience, and it;s not justin in “beauty shots.” Everything about the visual

language of “Nomadland” is striking-just the way Richards and Zhao slowly glide their camera

with Fern through a community of van-dwellers can feel lyrical while somehow never losing the

truth and grit of the moment either”.

The best part of this movie is that the characters and their conversations feel very authentic

and not scripted. Alas, it is very refreshing to watch a movie that doesn’t include violence and

fake computer generated scenes that could never really happen. It is a different kind of escapism

than all of that and at the same time one can be trapped by the perils that homelessness entails.
 The movie is emotionally charged and sometimes overwhelming but interesting and

watchable and not easy to predict. There are valuable lessons to be learned about homeless life

and how to live it given by people who have lived the minimalist homeless existence but seem to

appreciate the things that most people who are not homeless might take for granted.

The scenes are often split up by beautiful chamber style music in a terrific sense of

landscapes that gives you time to ponder what you just saw and think a moment upon it. You

have time to stop and smell the roses and or curse the occurrences that may displease you.

When nomadic people are referred to as rootless, I beg to differ as though they are mostly alone;

they meet up every year and trade stories and household goods and such in a community

environment. As romantic a nomadic lifestyle might be, the movie does a good job of showing

how easily such an existence can be derailed. Something as simple as a flat tire or dead battery

can be life threatening when parked somewhere in the middle of the desert alone in a snowstorm

or raging summer heat.

The plot isn’t easily revealed and so I won't begin to try and ruin it in this review. It's a story

of a very specific timeline that happens in Fern, the main character's life and some of the

situations that can occur when living in an automobile and traveling to a warmer climate for the

winter and the fantastic characters that present themselves on the way. The homeless factor is a

main stressor in the happenings and is an issue throughout but the audience gets to see inside

what it can be like to have this as a constant companion and challenge in real life situations. It’s

as if all of the stages of grief are on constant display and this is where the drama is. I think the

story could do a deeper dive but also see the value of why it does not concentrate on the misery

that might happen if caught in a homeless situation. I think the article by “Jake Coyle of AP
News” says it best when he said “Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland”, a wistful portrait of itinerant lives

on open roads across the American West, won best picture Sunday at the 83rd Academy Awards,

where the China-born Zhao became the first woman of color to win best director”. Before

discounting this movie you might want to know that it was also voted best picture at the 2021

Academy awards and did win other awards besides those two.

About the Director Chloe’ Zhao is an acclaimed director who has directed movies like Songs

My Brother Taught Me' and 2017’s The Rider which brought her critical acclaim. About the

Cast, the cast is made up of actual Nomads that were assisted in getting their S.A.G. cards and

played themselves such as Linda May, Bob Wills and Charlene Swankie, but most notably the

lead character of Fern is played by Frances Mcdormand and Dave is played by David Strathairn.

France McDormand did win an” Academy Award for her part as Fern in this movie in the

category of Best Actress. I would like to persuade anyone to go and watch this movie as it is

unique to itself and very interesting fiction based on fact. Though Nomadland may have gotten

mixed reviews from other critics, the best movies always seem to. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Regards Micky Bailey.

Academy Awards. Results, oscars.org, November 17, 2022.

Coyly, Jake. Nomadland Wins Best Picture at Social Distance Oscars, apnews.com, February

21, 2022.

Nomadland. Chloe Zhao, 2021.

Tellerico, Brian. Nomadland Review, rogerebert.com, February 19, 2022.

I chose to write this movie review of last years Academy Award Best Picture winner

“Nomadland” as my Persuasion Effect Project because after viewing it myself I believe that it

tries in nicely with my local issue of homelessness very well. The movie gives a real insight into

what it means to be without a home in modern times as today. It is viewed through the eyes of a

nomadic lifestyle of living in a van from a homeless perspective of the lead character and the

people that she encounters on her journeys. I wrote about her life decisions while she is homeless

so that an audience of people who have homes to go to might connect on a human level. I think

that writing about some of the emotional aspects of the movie and integrating that into the review

might make a significant difference in the validity of my intention to put faces on the homeless

issue. I seek to create a change in how homeless people are often viewed by the general public as

a problem to be addressed or worse than that, maybe less than human in some way. I want to

change the minds of people that I see when driving by a homeless person who is holding up a

sign asking for spare dollars, that the first instinct is to lock the car doors then roll up the

windows and look away completely ignoring this person who just might not have eaten any food

all day. What would it hurt to give this person a few dollars and some acknowledgement and

encouragement or some kind words. I chose this movie because you get to see through a

homeless person's eyes if only for a moment as the issue is real. This happened to unsuspecting

people often due to a myriad of reasons.

Thank You

Micky Bailey.