Plot intro
After the loss of both her career and her husband as a result of the 2008 economic recession, Fern (Frances McDormand) sells most of her possessions and leaves her home to live a nomadic lifestyle in a van. She travels the USA taking on seasonal jobs and encountering various friends and interesting people along the way.
In the year since we published our Parasite review, a huge amount has happened. Lockdown life has inevitably led us both to start podcasts, buy our own hair cutting implements, bake banana bread and make Zoom quizzes. We’ve also been denied the opportunity to see almost all of the movies on the Best Picture nominees list so for the first time in a while we are reviewing the winner without clear knowledge of what the alternatives were.
Nomadland has proven to be immensely popular amongst critics and American audiences and I can see why. It depicts and discusses total freedom from any form of authority whatsoever whether its government, landlords, employers, or the police. Fern’s lifestyle is probably the original American libertarian ideal. She has her possessions. They are hers and her alone. She can go and do whatever she wants. The circumstances in which she has reached that state would speak to anyone who suffered as a result of the economic crisis just over 10 years ago, and speak to a great deal of people worldwide who are suffering as a result of the current pandemic and the bad decisions governments have made to try and handle it. In America especially, where your finances are not as protected by government legalities as in slightly-more-socialised Europe, it’s totally understandable that someone dealt a bad hand might lose faith in any kind of institution. As several of the nomads sadly point out, they spent much of their lives working immensely hard, only to reach retirement age with either not enough to live off, or to have everything they worked for get taken away.
The film’s biggest strength for me is the insight into the lives of these people (people who, until the release of the film, I knew nothing about). The lack of plot didn’t bother me so much because I loved finding out how these people exist. Details such as what they eat, how they earn money, how they help each other, the reasons behind their decision to enter a nomadic lifestyle and even how they go to the loo. There are many heart-warming moments of kindness, camaraderie and community between these people. There isn’t one instance in which any of them turn out to be nefarious, greedy or pernicious in any way- they are friendly, welcoming and share their stories around the campfire in group therapy sessions. There are moments of great poignancy in the stories that the nomads share. All of them appear to have chosen the lifestyle out of sadness and tragedy rather than a romanticised desire for a gap year on the road.
However, paradoxically, the film’s realism is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Because the film is almost entirely an insight into the lives of nomads, played by real nomads (in fact, they’re all playing themselves), I don’t really see why it couldn’t have been a full documentary. The film does well to show these people’s lives with truth and tenderness, so it seems a little, dare I say it, egotistical of the filmmakers to plonk in McDormand (who is one of the producers) as a fictional character when, really, it wasn’t needed. The film probably could have had even greater levels of insight if it documented a year in the lives of several real nomads. The fictional Fern adds nothing to the presentation of their lives.
I would even go so far as to say that McDormand probably shouldn’t have won (her third) Best Actress. She’s bloody good, but she’s not much different to her characters in her other award-winning performances in Fargo and Three Billboards, and she certainly shouldn’t have won over Viola Davis’ awe-inspiringly grotesque work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Nomadland is certainly fascinating and beautiful to see (it made me want to drive around more of the United States because the landscape of this country is just magnificent). But it’s so grounded in reality, and so intent on showing the real lives of these people, that the minimal fictionalised elements should really have been scrapped altogether because they feel intrusive and self-indulgent.
Highlight: The stories of the nomads were really touching and you do feel for them. My favourite was one from a woman whose husband aimed to retire and buy a boat and had this ambition for many years. Sadly, he died just as he retired and therefore spent his entire life in school and in work and never got to truly achieve his dream.
Lowlight: Having Frances McDormand as Fern at all is unnecessary. Her acting is great but the character detracts from the truly interesting bits of the film- the real nomads.
Mark: 5/10
Well this is interesting. We watched the above film and Paul wrote his review in 2020. I write this in 2024. I also haven’t re-watched the film and part of this is because I didn’t really enjoy it and I don’t want to watch it again (lol).
However some key things do stand out to me, even a few years on. I enjoyed how this film had several firsts, including filming in one of the Amazon warehouses which frankly looks more evil and robotic than I ever could have envisaged, and that’s with them shining a fairly favourable light on the whole thing.
I also remember Frances McDormand being (as Paul says) pretty unnecessary in this film. She goes to the loo in a bucket at one point which I seem to remember being one of the key points in her Oscar-winning campaign (ooh isn’t she so brave, acting going to the loo), and hangs out with some actual Nomads.
The life portrayed here is sometimes grim and sometimes aspirational - to be free of belongings and possessions, making spontaneous choices seems to harken back to the exploration of the American West (as memorably shown in the Best Picture Cimarron). However it’s not something that I believe would truly appeal to many, and the best part of the film is the inclusion of real nomads sharing their stories.
It wasn’t a favourite film for me, and left very little impression. I did feel it might well resonate more to an American audience - proving again that the Oscars may often skew far too much towards one country’s opinion of the best film. Regarding her win as best actress, with the benefit of hindsight I actually think McDormand probably should have won a third Oscar - but for her great work in Macbeth the next year. This one is destined to fall beneath the waves of cinema.
Highlight: The stories of real nomads remained the best part of this film.
Lowlight: This wasn’t a great film really and I don’t think McDormand deserved the win - particularly not when Viola Davis was right there as Ma Rainey. Best Film? Meh.
Mark: 4/10
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