Review: ‘Nomadland’ an Astonishing and Realistic Journey of Dreamy Roads 

Cinema often brings out the stories from books that come from around us; these stories touch us and move us, but often give us a strong message. While we have seen many such examples in film, 2020’s “Nomadland,” based on writer Jessica Bruder’s “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” is a sterling example. 

The story focuses on Fern (Frances McDormand) staying with her husband in a Nevada small town. When a gypsum plant in the town shut down, the town’s spirit and livelihood also vanished. Fern’s husband died, leaving her by herself. With everything getting worse, she takes the road searching for work, connection, and adventure. She finds work at an Amazon center as a seasonal employee. She expresses herself to a friend as ‘houseless but not homeless,’ as her van is her home.

Fern gets comfortable living in her van and doing odd jobs like mopping floors in an RV park bathroom. She joins a larger group of makeshift communities, mainly older people like her seeking for work. Most of her new friendships were temporary as they shift from one place to another, which makes her alone again, but a few keep joining. She meets a gentleman (David Strathairn) who likes her. We become familiar with the story of Fern and others, and learn about the situation they are in.

The real commendation and star of this outstanding film is Chloé Zhao, who did multiple parts. She’s the director, writer, editor, and producer, which she stunningly succeeds in doing. Speaking of her writing and direction, “Nomadland” does not repeat what she has done in her film “The Rider,” a story a discovery piece on Native American unease. “Nomadland” gains authenticity from her genuine interest and identification with outlanders. Her story is not entirely inspired by the book, but reflects its reality: a story of self-anointed rovers, who are at their retirement age but still require picking up odd jobs where they can. Her writing reflects free-range loners, who left their homes in exchange for independence by choice, others by necessity. Her narrative lets viewers make introspection out of Fern’s lifestyle.

For direction, she used a semi-improvisational method, which helps the film to get a realistic and relatable vision. She does not try to push viewers to feel sad for the protagonist; instead, she showcases her situation’s loneliness and sadness. That gives scenes that draw its fervor, which comes from veritable, straight delicacy more than anything else. Her editing passes betwixt the pace of time and sedateness of change in the lead’s life. Her desert worlds are both visually and substantive. 

Her close work with cinematographer Joshua James Richards slant into the world’s solemnity revolves around dramatis personae with long-lasting shots of their horizon shot at the golden hour. Overall each frame and background looks naturally beautiful as an experience. It amazingly displays the visual language of the story with a slow glide camera. That can be felt in a moving score by Ludovico Einaudi that will stay with you. It’s tough to understand the process of Chloé Zhao as she delivers a story that speaks even when it’s silent; the simplicity and holds on to reality brings out the best work.

Frances McDormand in a scene from “Nomadland” (Cor Cordium Productions, 2020).

In a role as Fern, Frances McDormand is outstanding. It feels that she was meant to do this role; she expression of laughter when someone shares their pain feels very realistically natural. She has given many notable roles; this one role adds to the list. The main supporting cast is the real nomads presented in the book. Charlene Swankie, Linda May, and Bob Wells: non-trained actors who show their great personalities. Their characters are strong enough as fiction as they are for real. Together, they all make the director’s vision fulfilled, resulting in the magic we experience while watching the film.

We get familiar with the mixture of choice, and requisite those who have placed them here through Fern’s and peer’s stories. Unsurprisingly, economic apprehension is a prime theme. One of the more powerful scenes in the film where Fern’s friend shares her that she has worked all her life, only to discover that her Social Security retirement benefits amount to peanuts before taking to nomad life. Another scene where Bob Wall is expressing that the ideal American worker is viewed as a workhorse prepared to spadework itself, only to then pass and be buried in the ground.

“Nomadland” presents us with the feasibility to part in the freedom of true nature through round-the-campfire togetherness, disincentive panorama, and exasperation that comes with the territory. It is nearly plotless, in the sensation that there are minimal dramatic plot twists or even conspicuous exhibit of sentiments. It will be able to bring you to tears, either through elation, or the poetry of its representations. The cast themselves show their suffering and satisfaction in the tread.

The film is a delightful depiction of life on the road that outreaches toward the sort of wisdom it expresses, without hiding away from the complication one certainly hits in its pursuit. It also paeans to the soul of self-determination that keeps a woman like Fern press on as her own as life keeps putting her over. The community’s resilience helps her get up each time and charges of the structures that keep sending them back down again.

The story helps viewers worldwide understand how America stays patriotic and enthusiastic even while they have all reason not to be. It is unambiguously the story of Fern and nomads, the kind of person you may or may not have come across. People in the world share a community downgraded to the sidelines by a society judged as low, old, and odd. This film pays the attention they deserve, gives attention to something we ignore, and ultimately recognizes them as one of us.

“Nomadland” is remarkably realistic with a message that everyone should notice: that home’s value comes from making up others to create the world a better place. It has won the ‘Golden Lion Prize’ at the Venice Film Festival and also showed at TIFF.

*”Nomadland” is currently in theatres, and we could not find any options for streaming. Check with your local media for updates.