Nomadland - Review of the highly anticipated Chloé Zhao film with Frances McDormand

Nomadland - Review of the highly anticipated Chloé Zhao film with Frances McDormand

There has been much talk (perhaps too much?) Of Nomadland, the winning film of the Golden Lion last Venice Festival and undisputed protagonist of this tiring award season, with film and director already in the smell of Oscar. The chatter that circulated in the room was that of an authentic masterpiece, the jewel of one of the most talented directors in the world (Chloe Zhao), the poetry of the American frontier made into films; and I was sorry (so to speak) to be faced with a definitely solid feature film, with a gratifying direction and an excellent leading performance of the always adequate Frances McDormand, which however does not seem to keep the promises fermented to date.



The story and the true story

Based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, the film explores the phenomenon of the new American nomads: men and women mostly between the ages of 60 and 70 whose economic security was stolen by the collapse of the scholarship of 2008 and who decided to take the path of nomadism to survive, but also and above all to rebel against the capitalist logic that deprived them of their best years only to leave them with nothing.

Not being able to live while maintaining a roof over their heads, this modern tribe lives in their own RVs or trucks (usually modified to include all the amenities), constantly moving from town to town for seasonal work.

Francis McDormand is Fern, a widow who lost everything when the large factory where her husband worked closed its doors (as well as the city around which it was built). Forced to leave the company-owned home, she loads a few things into her minivan and begins wandering aimlessly through the streets of America, working as a warehouse worker in an Amazon factory and sleeping in her own transport.



Compassionate and outgoing, Fern runs into the world of new nomads almost by chance (a colleague at the plant has been part of the "tribe" for many years), thus discovering a way of life that best suits her free and nonconformist personality and a community with whom to share the love for nature and the adventure and pain that brought them there.

A nomadic direction

Director Chloé Zhao is smart enough to do not choose the focus of a social complaint for Nomadland: all the characters pause very little (almost never) to think about the wrongs suffered by society, also because they often do not have the luxury of it while trying to survive in an environment that is often and willingly hostile.

 

The film, on the other hand, prefers a contemplative approach, slow (but not very slow) halfway between documentary and drama. The structure is vaguely episodic and reflects the nomadism of the protagonist: we follow Fern as she crosses America in her unstoppable (or almost) van renamed Vanguard, she takes the time to admire the beauties of the continent and her warm personality allows her to meet and extraordinary friendships.

Nomadland - Review of the highly anticipated Chloé Zhao film with Frances McDormand

The aim of the director is certainly not to tell the story of a woman and her struggle for survival, but to make her live through the different paintings that make up the film, whose frames are the great natural wonders of the American frontier captured with skill by the director of the photo Joshua James Richards, Zhao's trusted employee.


Verdict: Is Nomadland a masterpiece?

This tendency towards the sublime that is expressed in the relationship between man and nature is very effective, but it is nothing new: Terrence Malick is one of the many (and perhaps the best among directors) to have faced it and with greater effectiveness. As a road-movie Nomadland works as well, but it doesn't strike with the strength or originality we expected. The film also has elements of contemplative slow cinema that go very well with the subject of the story, but this never really reaches a true poetic potential.



At the end of the show, Nomadland is a strong film, but not as strong as we would have expected and that doesn't know exactly where to go: is it a critique of capitalism? An ode to the wonders of nature? A celebration of life? Or more simply a film that tells the existence of a tribe of new nomads and their alternative lifestyle? Mystery, even if the presence in the film of authentic neo-nomads seem to suggest the last of the proposed hypotheses.


The basic impression is that the film tries so hard to tell us what it is not that it forgets to tell us what it is. Personally, I am also willing to believe that this was the director's aim, but I am sorry to say that at the end of Nomadland I was given far less than I was promised.

add a comment of Nomadland - Review of the highly anticipated Chloé Zhao film with Frances McDormand
Comment sent successfully! We will review it in the next few hours.