Nomadland shows American delusion in all its cruelty – Goop

Are they really modern nomads, fighters escaping the constraints of property, or are they merely victims of an antisocial system?

Nomadland, which this week won Oscars for best picture, best director (Chloé Zhao) and best actress (Frances McDormand), is a special experience, in part because you feel like you're watching a documentary the entire time. This is true to an extent because many of the roles in the film are played by people who more or less play themselves. Itinerants, nomads, itinerants, whatever you want to call them, people who live in a camper van or less and are constantly moving around the country in search of work, freedom and fulfillment. Outside of the movie, some players live this way in real life. They talk about it as if it is liberation, but in practice life turns out to be difficult and difficult.

The film begins with a village built around a factory where every resident worked. When the factory closed, the village disappeared as well. Within a few months, even the zip code no longer existed. We see a former resident. She lives in a truck she converted into a camper van and works as a temporary worker at an Amazon distribution center. Packing boxes. When Christmas ends and with it the shopping rush, she is made redundant and moves on to the next job with her own cart, if she can find one. This feeling of insecurity permeates the film. All the time you have no idea what the next step will be, what will happen. It looks almost as tired as it does in real life and I mean that as a compliment to the movie.

At the beginning of this century, I traveled across the western United States and was struck by the widespread poverty rarely seen through films and media. I was also surprised how this is considered normal in the US. Anyone who does not engage in the perpetual search for wealth and possessions does not belong. At the same time, people are very kind to each other, and the desire to help each other is enormous. The film shows that warmth well, but it does not hide the fact that social ties are also very weak, or as we say in Europe: superficial. This makes life difficult as everyone eventually has to be hard on each other. They are individuals living together without becoming a community. The other person is experienced primarily as a burden. They are supposed to value their freedom, but in reality it seems to prevent them from entering into commitments to each other. They are limited in their sense of freedom. Somewhere in the film they compare themselves to the pioneers, representatives of the great American illusion. The realization that the pioneers were land grabbers and exterminated indigenous people seems to have not yet dawned on even the most well-intentioned. It's as if you hear Balkenende talking proudly about VOCs, without realizing what he's saying.

McDormand's acting is so strong that you never doubt for a moment that she's walking around letting you as the viewer get to know her, even though that would be the last thing her character would want. So you are immersed in a world that you never want to be in, but which always arouses curiosity. Are they really modern nomads, fighters escaping the constraints of property, or are they merely victims of an antisocial system? The story, based on a non-fiction book, leaves the answer up to you.

Nomadland is one of those movies that I don't know if I'll forget soon or if it'll stay in my mind for the rest of my life. This suspicion usually refers to the latter.