Film review: Nomadland
Nomadland (2020, 108 min.)
Director: Chloé Zhao
Writers: Jessica Bruder (book), Chloé Zhao (screenplay by)
Stars: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
The definition of nomad is a person who does not stay long in the same place, moves from one place to another; a wanderer. Nomadism and the deterritorialisation, in general, is one of the central forces of the modern world because it brings labouring populations into the lower-class sectors and spaces of relatively wealthy societies. To constitute narrative of the Other and proto-narratives of possible lives, fantasies that could become prolegomena to the desire for acquisition and movement.
But in critically acclaimed Nomadland (2020), directed by Chloé Zhao, adapted from the book by Jessica Bruder, that deterritorialisation is within American society and most often, it shows the inequalities between the working class. This road movie story focuses on Fern (Frances McDormand), former resident of Empire, Nevada, who hits the road in her camper van, after the “dead” of her town and community as a result of closing the gypsum mine. Fern wanders the roads of the American west, working seasonal jobs – from packing boxes for Amazon to cleaning the rest area in camps during the summer. She meets real-life nomads (McDormand and David Strathairn are the only professional actors) that give the director Zhao a wide space for experimenting with the documentary form.
The author Jessica Bruder traveled with this community, people who did not lose their houses willingly and having fallen victim to mortgage fraud, job loss, health care debt, divorce, alcoholism, or some combination of all those factors. In the book she builds the narrative around Linda May and in the movie, it’s the story that keeps Fern on the road. Fern has a choice to stay in one place, to have a home with Dave, but chooses to continue the wandering. American highways are a place of integration. This system, unlike European ones, which represent one-way, unusual directions and places of exile, creates a different state of mind and becomes part of the collective game.
Nomadland premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion; at the Toronto International Film Festival, it won the People’s Chioce Award and it’s a serious candidate in the Oscar race in April this year.
