The Offensive Problem with Nomadland

[@the_katman2181]

What a crock. Find something else other than film critique. This doesn't work for you.

[@senismarsenis9678]

I think Kino Corner makes a fair point with his review. Why are you guys saying that he should stop? o _ O

[@spenterprise591]

I haven't even seen the film, but this review is much more well thought out than your lame critique of the review. Find yourself a dictionary, read a book, develop a vocabulary before you start telling people to give up what they're doing

[@the_katman2181]

@@spenterprise591 If you haven't seen the film, how would you know this wanky word salad of a review is not a total crock? Don't embarrass yourself here, lad.

[@senismarsenis9678]

@@the_katman2181 LMAO, I only see you saying "It's bad. You guys are embarrassing.." Perhaps explain WHY this is a ... w0rD sAlAd of a review instead of just barking at us? >:q

[@bobbydazzler8684]

No, this is precisely what film criticism is about. You don't have to agree but at least he explained his point of view. Your best effort was an insult.

[@vanessamontes8951]

I am a moderately poor person, and I didn't think anything about poverty issues watching Nomadland. It addressed more the identity and emotional issues we face moving into old womanhood.

[@frederickhugo5650]

As a van dweller, I hope my friends and family see this film. I want them to think I'm somewhere in the desert finding myself rather than drinking myself to sleep out front of the place I work.

[@theunlimitedchannel2022]

Lol!

[@rubberbumm]

bro that's just dark

[@theunlimitedchannel2022]

@@rubberbumm I'm sorry Iol'd to that

[@frederickhugo5650]

@@rubberbumm if it makes you feel any better. The money I saved on rent over the past four years of van dwelling has allowed me to move into an apartment in city.

[@pollystyrene99]

I hope things get better for you.

[@apollocobain8363]

It is not a documentary about homelessness. It's about grief and searching for meaning and connection after traumatic loss.

[@passwordsuggestion5336]

This is the problem imo. : one can not explain the taste or feeling. You have to experience it yourself. And having a backup in the form of a home or place somewhere that one could go to is not possible.

[@annmarie9213]

So true!

[@TerraAcox]

Which they called Nomadland after the book that absolutely was about homelessness, van dwelling, and a community of seniors who lost everything in the financial crisis of 2008.

[@scifinerd17]

@@TerraAcox the book was more of a documentary, the movie on the other hand was a fictional spin of said documentary by having a character going through a journey of looking for meaning living life on the road after she lost her husband

[@kalef1234]

@@scifinerd17 what you say actually backs up the criticism.

[@TheEvilDatsuTube]

13:02 In Brazil there was a big debate about if City of God was making the violence in the favelas aesthetical, since Fernando Meirelles (the director) was a very successful business man in the TV Comercial industry. There is a whole article on the subject called "Cosmetic of Hunger", which a lot of cinephiles from Brazil like to study. I honestly think it handles well its brutalness, but a lot of other people in the country don't see it the same way.

[@sophieh.4097]

Can you link the article?

[@TheEvilDatsuTube]

​@@sophieh.4097 I wasn't able to find the original article from 2001 back when I read it, but I found an essay by the same author about the differences between the "aesthetics of hunger" (proposed by Glauber Rocha) and the "Cosmetics of hunger" (analysing City of God, in this case), tracing how the recent commercial brazilian Cinema has been glorifying the country's violence and crime stereotypes to appeal to international markets. It's very interesting but it is in portuguese; maybe you can translate it through google chrome's features. revistaalceu-acervo.com.puc-rio.br/media/Alceu_n15_Bentes.pdf

[@theawesomebat1244]

Your Disney conspiracy theory is very coincidental because Chloe Zhao gave a shoutout to ‘The Avengers’ in ‘NomadLand’ 😅.

[@TheKitchenerLeslie]

It's not about making money at this point, it's about predictive programming and narrative shaping. They're preparing you for a future, which may have been thwarted (we'll see), where those who survive the pandemic will own nothing and be happy eating bugs while doing menial tasks until no longer needed... then you don't get your booster recharges anymore. Look up Klaus Schwab, Yuval Noah Harari (friend of Obama and Natalie Portman) and the World Economic Forum, they are tight with Bill Gates, Epstein, Fauci and most infiltrators of most governments.

[@thomashazarika9742]

Really?....I just watched the movie but nothing found like this shit.

[@realmrknight]

​@@thomashazarika9742it was mentioned on a theatre in a scene

[@azvwbaja]

As a 73 year old man living on social security, I am grateful to Bob Wells of Cheap RV Living KZbin channel that has shown me the way to live in my 16 ft cargo trailer and enjoy my life by connecting to fellow nomads. My fear was that "Nomadland" was going to make people think it was like Disneyland. The book is much truer picture of nomad life.

[@nathanstout3939]

I believe it was Tina Fey that said, The Oscars are a bunch of millionaires gathering to discuss the evils of capitalism.

[@MAXIMUSMINIMALIST]

Tina is the worse of them total scum traitor

[@niamhwalshemcbride246]

Did we watch the same film?! I’ve just watched it and it left me feeling an uncomfortable sense of desolation and loneliness. She’s shitting in her van and there’s loads of talk of suicide. It didn’t come across to me as a sanitised glamorised film about someone finding themselves at all, it felt like someone hanging on with the wolves for chaos coming

[@shelleybayless8968]

@@johnyzero2000 what would you do if you were forced into it by unforeseen circumstances beyond your control? I was a teacher, no husband or family, but owned a home. I became ill, was misdiagnosed and for years struggled, went downhill, until I couldn’t walk or work anymore. Used up most of my savings and retirement over a 10 year period. Finally found out what was wrong, endured several surgeries sometimes struggling to recover alone. I finally had to sell my house to avoid foreclosure, but didn’t get much equity out due to liens and debts I had to pay. I actually started watching Dave Wells on KZbin and started preparing myself to live in my car! Things turned out all right in the end, I won’t go into to detail about that, but this I know: but by the grace of God... For so many of us we do NOT have the survival skills if we needed them, and our happiness is tied to material things rather than people and relationships. I think that is really sad.

[@originalnightshade4582]

You definitely have to be comfortable in your own skin to ...be ok.

[@originalnightshade4582]

@@shelleybayless8968 Hope you are well now & his name is Bob Wells, & like ALL of us he has his own story & his on reasons.

[@gabevachon5555]

You progressives are so off base and wrong about your conclusions and so-called solutions it is just nauseating. What you espouse is mission creep to Chinese communist control and you deny it all the way. It's over by the midterms. You get that?

[@nelly19742012]

I watched the film and read the book. Although the movie shared many of the struggles from the book, it did sort of "sanitize" other aspects. And I think that may be where the reviewer is coming from. I personally loved the book. Except for the "white privilege" bullshit the author inserted. The movie... Not so much.

[@Danni.D]

My dad was a retired engineer who worked on projects at NASA in the 60s, putting men on the moon. He retired with plenty of money but he was happier living out of a van with his dog and traveling than I ever saw him in any of the beautiful homes with pools or full of nice furniture we had growing up. I never understood it until I watched this movie.

[@citytrees1752]

I don't find this movie particularly optimistic. But if you live in poverty, instead of just being someone who 'drives through it', it feels good to feel some hope, some romanticism, some softness. Being able to move around and see open spaces and nature is a lot better than being stuck in a hovel feeling dependent on the government. And, yeah, I've lost everything. The thing that makes me sick is that its the middle class overeducated kids who can live in their parents homes who are criticizing this movie.

[@myrajackson-rain5483]

Love your response!! You’re spot on. So sorry you’ve lost everything... can anyone help?

[@ThatOneRandomSteve]

I watched this movie with my mom. While I've never been a so called nomad, a.k.a. homeless, I've been working the same jobs Fern has in the movie. I actually worked in an Amazon center much like the one in the movie, and I can say that it's definitely a lot more dreary and alienating than the movie portrays. Being a young person working those jobs with a decaying future ahead of me probably gave me a different perspective of the film than my mom. Where I saw so many people working minimum to low wage jobs just to make ends meet, my mom saw a story about old people trying to live the last days of their life as free as they could. I can't discount her interpretation of the film; whether rich or poor, death claims us all eventually, and sooner or later we have to face the music. For me, however, it was far more bleaker, and I was honestly more surprised that a lot of the hardships faced by homeless people weren't discussed in the movie. The scene where David had to go and have surgery had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for the doctor to tell him that his treatment would bankrupt him without healthcare, but it never came. He was in the hospital one scene, and in the van the next, seemingly not worse for wear. It's hard for me to say how I feel about the movie, because my mom clearly got so much out of it, but I'm not sure if it's because she actually sympathizes with the plight of the homeless or just thinks the nomad lifestyle is something she wants to spend her final days doing.

[@GhostGum]

This movie was sponsored by your local amazon fulfillment centre

[@TheKinoCorner]

Yes daddy Bezos treats me right!

[@politicalvagabond1]

No. It was not.

[@TheKinoCorner]

@@politicalvagabond1 Found the Amazon recruiter

[@GhostGum]

@@politicalvagabond1 this comment was typed with sweaty fulfillment center fingers

[@politicalvagabond1]

@@GhostGum Frances McDormand wrote a letter to Amazon asking if they could film there, promising to neither celebrate nor condemn them in the movie. It was all matter-of-factly by design. The movie was not about Amazon or their terrible work conditions, in the first place. Do you want to see a movie condemning Amazon? Make one. And stop making shit up.

[@politicalvagabond1]

Being a nomad...I love me some Nomadland. But the problem people have connecting with this movie is that they think it's about poor people living in vans...but it's actually not. It's, somewhat, about people who were forced into vanlife by poverty or the threat of poverty (like refusing to be broke by paying 60% of their income on living expenses) but they then stayed in the lifestyle even after their financial situation got better because they found that they loved it so much. A lot of people research van life before selling their home and moving into a van. To these people, gig jobs are a means to be able to live the nomadic lifestyle, they have CHOSEN to live. People can always live vanlife, statically (and temporarily until they get on their feet) while working a regular full-time job if they wanted to...never having to go from place to place, working grueling gig jobs, like Amazon or the beet harvest. Nomads work these jobs because they allow them to travel...to be real nomads. Nomadland is not about poverty or gig jobs. It's not trying to wake people up to the homeless problem or make people FEEL some type of way. It's about a woman getting back to her truth after losing everything that made her deny that truth, to begin with. It's also about people not falling into the "American Dream" trap. It took the opportunity to address the unrealistic expectations that society places upon us...via the conversation between Fern, her bother-in-law, and his friends. We're all expected to get a job, get married, buy the biggest house a lender tells us that we can afford to buy, pump out a few babies, and end up so house-poor we won't see ourselves retiring until we're 80 years old...what Bob Wells meant by workhorses. Sorry, but Nomadland is not THAT movie that everyone wants it to be. But, as a progressive, I would welcome an "in your face" woke movie that addresses poverty and homelessness...especially if it's also about the house crisis being made worse by foreign investors artificially inflating the housing market. So, someone should make THAT movie.

[@myrajackson-rain5483]

I feel like the minority here. I liked the movie. I am in a similar situation soon with no other choices. It did make me FEEL, but not hopeless or sad... just the aloneness of it all. We all walk a path to whatever our choices lead to... the movie gave me hope...

[@galleriecpv]

there has got to be a way to do this better without huge clunky rv's and paying more rent...I keep researching and determined to find my best fit.

[@Takeoffin321]

@@galleriecpv personally my stock AWD chevy express (after my ASTRO), has worked out great for going on 9 years. Only one major breakdown, but I stay near town I've lived in for 30 years. Small and light with off road capabilities is all u need.

[@locusts_and_wildhoney]

Best comment. I was literally going to say this but decided to scroll the comments hoping someone already did and there you were. Thanks for saving me a 5 minutes.

[@OkOk-kk5ys]

I'm an investor. I don't inflate house prices. I provide affordable rental housing to give people a place to live.

[@robeIIe]

I wish I was poor, you know, for the A E S T H E T I C

[@jakethet3206]

I get that you’re totally joking, and I dig it, but I still feel compelled to say that I’ve been poor, and it suuuuuuuucks.

[@robeIIe]

@@jakethet3206 I've been poor and yes it does suck

[@pendarazaripoor4296]

Basically the problem I have with 80% of people who love into the wild. I get it the movie was nice and all but it just shows you've never slept with an empty stomach

[@jakethet3206]

@@pendarazaripoor4296 I don’t think I’ve seen that movie.

[@voodoochile333]

@@jakethet3206 thanks for that, I was on the fence whether poverty sucks or was amazing. Until you posted, I really was in a quandary. Thanks for clearing this up.

[@kristinebautz1859]

Rich people call it van life, poor people call if homeless...THANK YOU!!!! This is exactly what I've been saying about the trend of "van life" its romanticizing homelessness and makes it a hot trend for those who have options to those who do not. It's like the fashion designer who made clothes out of newspapers "inspired" by homeless people. Let's ignore the problem and make it trendy!

[@cheekybananaboy3361]

whats wrong with enjoying living in a van tho

[@kristinebautz1859]

@@cheekybananaboy3361 theres nothing wrong with it. But people who post on social media about the "glamor" of it need to stop. It's a hard life to handle for those who have no choice. Even if they are going for a fun trip to see beautiful sights, they only show the fun 15 minutes of a 24 hour day. Parking costs, finding bathrooms, fear of during the night someone breaking into the van and fighting the elements of mother nature.

[@reneedennis2011]

Good point.

[@DeleteExistence]

Living in a van when your poor, is a mattress in the back with a tooth brush. Then you go to the swimming pool to use their showers. It is like the crackden version of van life.

[@surpriseadventures]

My wife and I "van-lifed" for over 4 years but it was actually a small SUV. Mostly around California. It was definitely mentally draining. But it wasn't so bad. We both kept jobs and are active in the outdoors. So all of our off time was spent in the mountains or at the beach. Move back home with family temporarily but will be back on the road soon.

[@epicuregarden1104]

The movie is about losing your loved ones.Poverty is a setback.Where can you turn to when things go wrong? Family. And some people have a big family. But many people don't. And this is portrayed beautifully.And makes you think how love can be so healing. And how lonely you can feel if the people you love most, die.Losing a kid is the worst thing in life. Poverty is nothing for that man in the movie. For me, the people we love is our greatest fortune.A fortune that we all loose when our parents die no matter how poor or rich you are. Fern says it at the end. She was happy in that small ugly house, in the middle of nowhere because her husband was happy.

[@tomlotherington25]

This reminds me of the song Common People by Pulp. Hardly anybody in Hollywood knows what it's like to be genuinely poor

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

Awesome song! Pulp is great at societal jabs.

[@arcwiz]

Holiday in Cambodia fits this as well

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

They'll never fail like common people.

[@Weathernerd27]

The film was inaccurate in several ways. I have a co-worker who used to work at Amazon, I've read a few articles and seriously considered living in a RV myself. 1) Working at Amazon is not as nice as the movie portrayed. You have to meet strict quotas or you are immediately fired and these quotas are so strict its hard to find time for a bathroom break. The Amazon lunch table is not as clean or lively because everyone is understandably tired/stressed. 2) most people who live in Vans are not doing it for the freedom and thrill of it. They feel locked out of the housing market and are depressed/in despair, the mood of the movie was alittle to light. 3) This is not just a problem of the poor, I make 80k a year and I was considering buying and RV and parking it on a different street every night. Why would I do this? I didn't go to school all those years to live paycheck to paycheck. Apartment rents and house prices have gotten so high in recent years that even with my high wage I would be paycheck to paycheck. I tried renting rooms but I ran into alot of bad housemates/landlords lacked privacy/space and I just wasn't happy in that living situation. After a long hard search I did find a affordable condo with 40 minutes commute but I fear for future generations. I wanted to build a tiny house but most banks don't finance tiny houses and I didn't have 50-150k in cash to pay for the tiny house + land outright.

[@jjproductions7236]

I went into this video expecting to roll my eyes at your arguments but I actually agree with a lot of what you said. The film is disingenuous to what real American poverty looks like, and sugar coats it. Which can lead to a shallow experience. I still like the movie, but not as an exploration of real American poverty, which seems to have been its goal. Instead I see Nomadland as exploration of human grief through a romanticized nomadic lens.

[@OkOk-kk5ys]

I think it's simplistic to say all poverty looks a certain way. The human spirit is what makes life worth living. Do you think through out history people lived as we do today. Kings and queens used to crap in a bucket. Only their buckets didn't leak like the common folks.

[@morph628]

Oof...I have so much to say 1) Let's not confuse Fern's reaction to the struggle with the struggle itself. She tries to make the best of her time at Amazon, but really that cooperation is gonna grind the workers up like hamburger. The film tells us so. 2) I liked the "real" people in the film, but that didn't make a seamless experience for me. I kept separating the "actors" from the "real" people in my mind. 3) Never thought poverty was the main tension. I thought it was Fern dealing with the ghost of her absent spouse and the future they had built together. I didn't think the film glamorized the atomization of the town. When she's walking through the factory and the unfinished homes...that was kinda like the thesis of the film for me....a simple statement of the fact that charts, graphs, and cooperate suits decided the people there were expendable...so they were sacrificed. And Fern, having invested so much in the "dream" of living that simple life with her husband, was completely untethered by the experience. There was no longer anything tangible future to work towards. 4) the scene where she walks by the wave beaten coast was over the top to me 5) I don't think the reviewer is completely wrong. Fimmakers are going to approach such subjects from a perspective of privilege.

[@gretathegarbo]

It’s complex. People living this life are a mixed bunch. I spent my early twenties fruit picking, travelling, staying in a tent, living on lentils and rice, very much by choice. It was very poorly paid, but I remember those years as being some of the happiest of my life. I chose the lifestyle. I agree that there are really oppressive forces and not everyone is choosing the life… but some people are. Very few people want to be seen as objects of pity, which is just another way to objectify and simplify poor people and their experiences. Life is complex. This movie reminded me of some very happy times and I am keen to return to nomad living for a time.

[@hendrsb33]

I went to see this movie largely because I live near Sedona, Arizona, where nomads, both poor and rich, are common. As a jeep tour guide, I drive past them every day, along the dirt county roads where they camp. I see old vans, converted school buses and ambulances, high-end motorhomes and fifth-wheels, military-style expedition vehicles and teched-out sprinter vans. With that in mind, I went to see the movie out of curiosity. I think NOMADLAND tries to portray a sense of freedom and liberation out of poverty... but it depressed the hell out of me. Frances McDormand splurting diarrhea into a bucket in the back of an old van is one of the few things I remember about the movie and it's not too inspiring. From what I see, there are some nomads who embrace and like the lifestyle but there seems to be a lot who are there only because they have no other options in life. It almost made me feel as if the rich were saying, "You too may forced to live this way someday soon . Learn to cope with it with some implied sense of beauty and dignity."

[@OkOk-kk5ys]

Yes this lifestyle can happen to anyone. There is a million different ways how people go from middle class to broke. Attitude gets you through your day. Everyone chooses the attitude they go through life with, that is if they are aware they have a choice. Victim hood is what is oppressive and self limiting. So if life is shitty suck it up and put a smile on. If life is good count your lucky stars and put a smile on.

[@lemontales5859]

I, literally, cannot imagine what $30 chips taste like. But in my heart of hearts, I know I won't like them. As someone who has lived her entire life below the poverty line, I just don't understand why rich people fetishize it. I would give most anything to not worry about rent or when my bills will auto draft from my account. I just had a mental break down this morning after paying rent and bills.....and I have $18 left for groceries for me and my daughter and my cat. The local food pantries near me are only open when I'm at work and I cannot afford to take time off. Or I don't have gas to travel to a further away one. I cannot watch poverty porn movies. It build a visceral rage and depression that stays with me for way too long after the story has ended. Good to know, I'll steer clear of this movie. Not like I can go to a movie anyways rn

[@viciw8170]

I hope things get easier for you.

[@horsenim]

Really interesting how this movie that glorifies and romanticizes the de-industrialization of America as some sort of wholesome return to "simpler times" is directed by the daughter of Chinas largest state operated steel companies.

[@anantambisht4895]

China owns hollywood

[@Le_Samourai]

The director’s bias is clear. That being said the film was censored in china

[@andrewreed4924]

I wasn't super into the movie, thought it was solid. Well acted, well edited, and like you mentioned the scenes with the real nomads were the best parts. But I think the overall positivity of the film was not necessarily a bad thing, or purely a rich people trying to sanitize poverty thing. If you watch docs or just interviews on youtube of the real nomads, they do talk about the difficulties, but they also talk about the freedom that they enjoy living that lifestyle. Many of them choose to remain in that lifestyle even if they are given more traditional alternatives, simply because they enjoy it. I think the film could have done a better job illustrating that point, but I think that was the general vibe it was going for.

[@mickeymousey1239]

they did show that though, she made her choices, she could have stayed in that nice house with dave her friend, the actors also talked about why they chose road life, it wasnt exactly left out, i think they covered all angles but yea they wanted us to see the hardships of it - a lot of ppl nomad and love it too

[@robertagriego3044]

When you don't have choices, sometimes you pretend that you do. No one really wants to be poor. Don't forget that.

[@Jeremy_the_unfallible_n-a]

@@robertagriego3044 you can not want to be alot of situations while still making choices that keep you in them. in fact surely everyone has something they dont prefer but other lifestyle habits, infatuations preferences, social behaviors etc are keep them involved so to speak

[@Afreelunch85]

I'm a nomad of five years who watched this movie out in nature with other nomads, many of whom (including myself) live this way at least partially out of financial necessity. The movie didn't land with any of us. It definitely wallows in some of the darker aspects of living this way without actually exploring them and even whitewashing them, like the seasonal Amazon gigs which are pretty miserable to anyone who's ever had a decent job. I agree that it was made for the academy.

[@josegarduno8559]

I don't think they ever showed amazon to be a great gig. she said it was in the film to her family. but it was for them not to worry. what was "white"wash? just curious.

[@doctorkayak]

@@josegarduno8559 I believe that he was clear about what he meant by whitewash. It "explored" the darker aspects without highlighting the lighter aspects. Be clear that feelings, sad or happy, are only feelings. If you constantly choose to wallow in sadness without experiencing happiness, your life is going to be sad. Although "feelings" are valid they are only feelings. There is a great book out there called "FU#K FEELINGS" by Michael and Sarah Bennet. It explores the rut we get into when we focus too much on feelings and what other people think and neglect to actually live our own lives.

[@MrPabgon]

Nomadland doesn't show a version of poverty for rich people. Actual nomads tell their stories. Like, how can that be manipulated if the people represented in the movie are in the actual movie. It also doesn't romantisize it. Many of the people in the movie have chosen those lives. They see beauty in it, even with the downsides. Dave refuses to be with his son because of the complexity of the situation, and in the end, he ends up doing it. Fern refuses help. People have been trying to help her throughout her life, but she still chooses that life. Even so, the movie shows the difficult life of these nomads. The many problems that they have to face. But they still find value in that way of life, the isolation, and the communities. And the real nomads are secondary in the movie because they aren't the protagonist. Fern is. She is obviously going to be the focal point of the movie. And it is a movie about how a nomad is too stubborn to let go of the past and to accept actual help, even if that means going through those problems in the life of a nomad, even if there is some beauty in it. And it shows how at the end, she might end up letting go of it and accepting help. I really struggle to see any romantization. They face many, many problems. But just because they do doesn't mean they can't find any beauty in those places.

[@maddied2045]

@sam kemp’s

[@maddied2045]

Yes! It’s almost as if people who are houseless, struggle and aren’t financially sound, automatically have to be miserable. Which isn’t the case. I personally find this film to be outstanding.

[@politicalvagabond1]

Fern was a wanderer even before she got married and SETTLED for a static lifestyle, to be with her husband. Her husband, who also loved his job, btw. They put that in there for a reason. Working that job and living in a company tract-house made her husband happy, but the house being situated on a backlot with nothing but desert behind them made it a little more bearable for her. No. She's a nomad at heart, and I can't see her character giving up the nomadic lifestyle for anything or anyone.

[@MrPabgon]

@@politicalvagabond1 yeah i agree. Although, i think wh wasn't a nomad at heart before her husband died. She talked about it like she needed something after his passing, that wasn't there before.

[@louispemberton4156]

idk how tf someone can watch this movie and think it romanticizes poverty..

[@dangrabnar3992]

Comparing the ending scenes from Bicycle Thieves and Nomadland really puts things in perspective. While both endings portray a sort of venture in to the cruel world, Bicycle Thieves shows that this is a systemic problem, that affects every other Italian. Nomadland paints a poetic picture of a lost soul(s) living in symbiosis with its depriviliged lifestyles and not really criticising the situation. But then again, if only us, the privilged ones, saw the film, who are we to say, what the film would mean to a poor American.

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

Bycicle Thieves is a masterpiece and a landmark in film history that is going to be tought and seen for generations to come, Nomadland is an Oscar bait movie that will fade away like all the other mediocre Best Picture winers like Crash, Green Book, and Dancing with Wolves.

[@originalnightshade4582]

@@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747 Opinion is not fact just because YOU think it, doesn't make it true . I watch "Dances with Wolves" frequently it is one of my very favorite movies

[@winstonwolf5706]

@@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747 I liked Green Book.

[@ripwednesdayadams]

The Florida Project was more of a realistic portrayal of poverty to me than Nomadland.

[@derek96720]

Very much agree

[@agi238]

Here's a quote from Letterboxd user batteries that responds to a review much like your video - "It seems you have a bone to pick with Hollywood's depiction of poverty-and rightfully so. Hollywood depicting poverty is a perverse juxtaposition. However I think your passion for picking that bone has obscured how you viewed this very good movie. Fern has opportunities to leave her nomadic situation, but she won't-she can't. What's keeping her on the road?
This is a leftist film; it's about being oblique to an inescapable, all encompasing capitalist world, and the all-too-recognizable indignation we feel in this. I think this quote from Dolly to her sister Fern describes this perfectly: "When you were growing up, you were eccentric to other people. You maybe seemed weird, but it was just because you were braver and more honest than everybody else." I am glad this film was rated highly by so many others as it offsets your cruel and shortsighted rating." Fern's Nomadic situation provides her with the escape of the capitalist realm of America she desires. Fern has opportunities to leave her lifestyle all around her. She doesn't feel the utter wrath of poverty many others forced to live this way do and is content with working at Amazon warehouses for a source of income as any other barely getting by American citizen wouldn't be.

[@jakethet3206]

I liked #Nomadland well enough, and wondered if I was looking at my future, but as someone who has been poor, and still doesn’t have much, there was something about it that nagged at me, and you say it better than I ever could have.

[@anakinskywalkerghost8964]

I didn’t really the feeling that it was trying to make poverty look deep and romantic, the film made me feel really depressed and almost scared to end up like the people you see in the film. But I guess it depends on what parts you focus on and perhaps even your financial state.

[@madbitvanner9107]

I disagree. This is a fictional story, a movie, about one van dweller. Sounds like you were expecting a documentary on the plight of van dwellers. I agree that it is needed. But this was a fictional movie not a documentary.

[@anorganicpixel]

Nomadland is our generations Grapes of Wrath except it was influenced by corporate backing.

[@simonvincent8348]

I just had the feeling described in this review of "something not sitting right with me", though not about the movie but rather about this review. Similarly I couldn't really put my finger on it, but after some deliberation I think its because I believe the movie has completely different intentions than the reviewer assumes it has (or that it should have). This movie is not meant to be about showing poverty, economic struggles or depicting another "class", and may even be actively avoiding these subjects in order to place the focus on other topics which are on a more generally relatable human level - dealing with emotions of loss, grief and restlessness, finding community, friendship and humanity during hardships and in later stages of life, (re-)connecting with nature and family. None of these topics were shown romanticized or 'sanitized', they were actually depicted as real as it gets with a splash of hopefulness, therefore in my mind the movie succeeds in its original intention and beautifully so.

[@criskatan]

A community of drug/alcohol abusing thieves you mean??

[@biashacker]

This movie was made to make people with money say, "Phew thank god that's not me."

[@Shah-of-the-Shinebox]

Yeah this film was made for Hollywood people to feel better about themselves.

[@rohitbhardwaj5932]

I am not against poverty porn but somewhere I feel it is one of the reasons why parallel cinema in India couldn't do great. As a filmmaker still, to debut a feature, I often find myself in a dilemma, whether to follow my voice or impress the audience at the festival. any way your video was helpful. thanks

[@G-B31]

I watched the movie last night. I agree with your assessment 100%. Romanticizing homelessness and making it look danger free is unreal. Everyone in the movie is nice and good.

[@procrastephen]

I can't believe you got offended for seeing people in poverty salvage freedom, meanings, and positivity in their tough life.

[@jannis6600]

I largely agree. My only problen is that if I follow your line of thought, the only kind of movies you can make about poor people would be tragidies. Since a movie about poor people with a positive message would be "Poverty porn" even though you said many people with less material possessions live happier lives - therefore allowing for a ballance between criticism and "happy story telling". But that's what you probably meant anyway! Still a great video! Thanks!

[@shivani-peachypictures]

your conspiracy theory could be true, I've noticed Disney trying all they can to pass marvel off as cinema... their choice of directors, the "visual aesthetic"... but their motive of making quick consumable content for the sole purpose of making money is evident. Scorsese really does live rent-free in Disney's mind.

[@TheKitchenerLeslie]

It's not about making money at this point, it's about predictive programming and narrative shaping. They're preparing you for a future, which may have been thwarted (we'll see), where those who survive the pandemic will own nothing and be happy eating bugs while doing menial tasks until no longer needed... then you don't get your booster recharges anymore. Look up Klaus Schwab, Yuval Noah Harari (friend of Obama and Natalie Portman) and the World Economic Forum, they are tight with Bill Gates, Epstein, Fauci and most infiltrators of most governments.

[@SomeOne-ce1gf]

Couldn't agree less with your opinion dude many of us who choose not to put down roots aren't destitute most of us are happier than people who "have it all figured out" don't speak on something objectively you haven't been through

[@bitemelo]

So much of this video is a nope. The film is an examination of the nomadic lifestyle. Fern isnt poor. Fern isnt homeless. She says in the movie- She's houseless, not homeless. She's choosing to live this lifestyle. Unlike most homeless people, she can pick up a phone and call someone and that would be the end of it. She likes this lifestyle till she begins to wonder if it's for her, and finally confront her feelings with the death of her husband and the loss of the town. Honestly, i feel like you are trying to fit so much of the film into your narrative. "Can you believe this is a best picture winner? Its the Iowest grossing best picture winner of all time. I guess you can partial blame it on cinemas being closed." Anybody that would have won would have been the lowest grossing best picture winner of all time. Promising Young Woman ($6.4M) Judas and the Black Messiah ($5.4M) Minari ($2.57M) The Father ($1.6M) Deadline 2/24/21 Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sound of Metal all had short theatrical windows and dont release numbers but if they had strong numbers, you know they would have. I would recommend that the your subscribers go out and see the movie instead of relying on someone's misguided view of the film.

[@maddied2045]

100% agreed

[@Sfdjdhrh]

"The film portrays the lifestyle as optomistic" everyone shares stories of their difficulties. They show the tough jobs they do. He mentions her floating naked in a pool as the beautification of poverty. Doesnt mention her shitting on a bucket. You nailed it on the head. Hes creating a bit of a narrative to dump on the movie. The main character isn't truly poor. Just doesn't want to be a part of regular society. But also. Just like he created a narrative. They decided to make fern optimistic. So both can be true, and the movie can be enjoyable.

[@the_katman2181]

I think the point is these nomads opt out of "normal" society for a host of reasons. Some entirely voluntary, as an alternative lifestyle. Some slightly more pushed, because life perhaps dealt some harsh cards. But nowhere in the film is anyone portrayed as destitute and hopeless, or even poor. There's certainly no poverty porn at play here. Sure, Fern has worries about her income, and she has worries about affording to fix her van, but I have worries about those things too and I live in middle-class suburbia. I thought this was a beautifully-told story of some fascinating and very real people. I absolutely loved it, and I thought both Frances McDormand and the director, Chloe Zhao, were extremely respectful and delicate in their telling of this story.

[@ktsterlin9304]

I agree except the part where you say she’s not poor… How is she not poor? Having the ability to call for a lifeline because you don’t have the means to pay for something is ironically privileged in her situation but she is still poor. I agree that she’s making a choice and because of her family and people she’s met along the way, she has a choice but she’s still poor.

[@Nutticus]

I live in the southwest and have driven through some of the most poverty ridden parts of the country, the optimism of this movie was genuinely sickening considering how hopeless many people’s situation is. I guess nauseating optimism is just the Disney way...

[@irritatedkitty7301]

@Sparkling Cyanide politics is about color, gender, policing or non-policing, bathroom, schools and sports rights for humans identifying as another gender. get your political party right and have a drink of some sparkling Kool-aid.

[@irritatedkitty7301]

@Sparkling Cyanide haha your brainless coments, were the first clue of your political affiliation. 🤣

[@cheekybananaboy3361]

what the hell is going on in the replies

[@cheekybananaboy3361]

@Sparkling Cyanide why are you assuming op is a republican ?

[@nickelcitygritty3618]

Rich people get old and die just like the poor. It’s not that weird to be poor and optimistic. You’ll see when you get older and closer to your own death.

[@LEORedSun]

You nailed it. You have people/part time nomad who chose to live in a RV then you have Nomads who are forced into it. This movie is about the second type and people need to understand that.

[@phiswe]

The ending of it still suggests that the character could choose between the home life and that of the open road and chose the latter.

[@mateopeltier767]

The movie is literraly about the first type ?? They choose this life

[@AndreaYahrmcbride]

I absolutely loved it. I could relate to it on every level. This movie changed my life.

[@colewilliams52]

Im in the bracket of society thats constantly a couple bad months away from living this life.. Ive lived in a car before and while that life might be neat to try for a couple days, once you start trying to dig yourself out its a life of never ending servitude. Movies like this arent uplifting theyre horrifying to people like me. Its like media companies are trying to tell us its ok youre impoverished look how much fun were having doing it. Ive seen older coworkers get fired from low end no labor jobs for ending up in the hospital one too many times. My house flooded twice last week and my boss helped me out by giving me a notice saying if i take any more "unexcused" absences i will face consequences despite knowing the circumstances. Most of us dont live the nomad life, but were doing everything we can not to and this hill were climbing seems to get steeper every year while they stand at the peak looking down on us struggling and say oh what fun that must be they just need a better attitude. I consider myself somewhat well of and its still gonna take me 5 years to get to a comfortable point if everything goes to plan.

[@patrickgleason2066]

This is a superb analysis of “Nomadland” the movie. For myself I felt very little for the characters. There was very few insights into the individuals. It seemed more about beautiful landscapes than the actual people. That said; it was at least a glimpse into the reality of many older people.

[@hlaw2830]

Lol, this is an awful analysis, but your misunderstanding isn't too surprising; I mean, you think gentrification is bad, right? Well then, you're the one building ghettos, just like your parents before you.

[@Angel-nu7fm]

SPOILER ALERT: Yep at the end of the movie she chooses to stay on the road alone, pull pallets at Amazon and do harsh farm work rather than live with a man who loves and cares for her and would give a connection to home and family. Yeah sure. HIghly likely a woman in her 60s would do that.....NOT. That type of labor at that age is brutal. Totally agree with the video. Makes it seem like given a choice a woman in her 60s or 70s would choose this life. total bullshit

[@Alice-Not-In-Chains]

H-o-n-e-s-t-y:👩🏽‍💻

[@RetroEste]

At first I had this feeling that this movie was trying to be like Tarkovsky but them I saw Zhao's commentary on The New World. And went "oh yeah this is really just Diet Malick".

[@monkeydee7132]

I get what this critique is saying, but I think the movie is more complex and can be viewed from many perspectives. In my opinion, the movie is not so much about glamourizing poverty/homelessness, but more about showcasing what the lifestyle is like, and how it can be ingrained in one's habits and hard to be carved out ever since. It really reminds me of a book, "Housekeeping", by Marilynne Robinson, and Bruce Springsteen's Western Stars. At times it doesn't even feel like characters are making a choice, but more like affected by the inescapable inertia of a status.

[@heatherstockford814]

I started an Instagram once called 'van life cause I'm broke'. That's not a plug cause I haven't visited that for years. But at the time, Instagram was full of fresh happy van lifers in Mercedes Sprinters with tropical backdrops. I was a night janitor living in an 80s Dodge Hightop that was leaking propane, in the winter of 2016 in Canada. I took the night job so I could sleep during the warmest hours of the day as I was too afraid to turn on the propane heater. I parked in a low income hood behind a grocery store so I could catch the wifi. Also, obvious tip: upper income hoods will call the cops on a stationary van. My Instagram showed me brushing my teeth in a public washrooms and various pics from my night janitor job. I still live like this, but with a partner in a truck camper. In BC there is a housing crisis that has been going on in Vancouver for many years, which displaces the country folk as the lower income city folk move further and further out of core city centers. The reality: you get good at living in vehicles and you are flexible enough to take high paying labour jobs that are offered during limited seasonal times. The variety of jobs is interesting and yes, jobs middle class America would likely never consider. Right now I am packing apples into bags all day. But before that, I was in the field picking the apples from the tree and felt very elated and at peace with the world. The community really is all that the movie presents so long as you maintain personal boundaries. I loved this movie. As a long time vehicle dweller (I spent last winter in a Ford Focus) all I ask is for more places to take a hot shower. That's all. Love ❤

[@deancj1]

The issue with this take on the movie is common. I've seen it reviewed this way by a mostly younger person. A younger person who has no concept of what things were like for blue collar working people pre nineteen eighties. Where they go wrong is by saying this glorifies being poor. Nope. This is about people forced to confront their situation they had no control over. They know there is no conventional way out in America as an older worker. You can go several ways, you can embrace and build community around this new reality, wallow in the hopelessness, or move in with family after living independently your whole life. Most young reviewers just aren't there, they can't understand these nuances. The movie showed no "positive outcome". You think this was a Hollywood version of poverty? Nah...... It's just one version of poverty and people who embrace a situation they know they won't get out of in bullshit america......... They are in the situation and have said fuck you..... We know we're fucked but we are gonna unfuck ourselves on our own terms in spite of the dour way our country and people discard us. That includes faux empathetic KZbin kids completely missing the point. You'll get there one day.

[@donjindra]

Well put.

[@iamhannahjasmine]

I agree with you. I thought this movie was about spirituality, taking back your own power by embracing your circumstances and doing your best working it out, fuck the world, politics, society.

[@dewbzki]

Agree with all of this

[@Liberal.Linda.]

EXACTLY. QFT (quoted for truth): "You think this was a Hollywood version of poverty? Nah...... It's just one version of poverty and people who embrace a situation they know they won't get out of in bullshit america......... They are in the situation and have said fuck you..... We know we're fucked but we are gonna unfuck ourselves on our own terms in spite of the dour way our country and people discard us."

[@meganlinhhughes6857]

Beautifully said. You need to make your own video on this and get it out there!

[@badfinger524]

Brilliant critique. I don’t feel it is fair for me to criticize a movie that I have not seen. I doubt I will see it as, after reading McDormand and Zhao’s comments on the film, I felt they were less creating an imaginative work of art than creating propaganda. They were leaning in to the current narrative of Hollywood and the nation at large. I also am boycotting Disney and their toadies because of its support of China and overt cancelling attacks on their critics. Most of what I have read about the movie centers on the beautiful scenery and the main character’s transcendence, which in itself could have been a great theme - transcending the consumer world. But if, as you say, they toss in some real poverty-stricken people as part of that scenery, well, man, that is just despicable. More than anything, the movie strikes me as another attempt by Hollywood to define reality. This is what you should believe. Kind of like the scene in The Fisher King, where the TV executive is trying to convince Jeff Bridges’ character that a TV show about the homeless would focus on how happy and free the homeless characters were. As to your discussion on class, I think you are right on. I grew up in two ghettos (lucky me), but I went to a very respected university. One day I was recounting to my dorm colleagues how brutal my old neighborhoods could be. I am white. The whites in my neighborhood were the minority. Most of the black people we lived near were good people. But there were black people who hated white people. They would take their hate out on innocent white kids who lived in the neighborhood. It was not uncommon to see 15 black dudes beat the hell out of a single white boy. The wealthy liberal kids (who had never met a person of color until going to college) could not reconcile this with their view on how black people live. One of them said, “the white kid MUST have used the N-word.” That statement was then repeated by each person around the table, one by one like a religious mantra. And just like that, my experience was shape-shifted to fit their reality. When I see Francis McDormand, I see those kids sitting around the table in the dorm. Sorry for the long reply. Good critique.

[@WeekendWarrior1]

but it won an oscar kino, surely that means its awesome and great and fun

[@TheKinoCorner]

Dang! I guess the Academy is right and I'm wrong! Bamboozled again!

[@eccepasser]

My favorite alt righter weekend warrior

[@MrGergasikuat]

@@TheKinoCorner yeah your wrong sometimes movies not just all about about money, its branch of arts. like nomadlands not about wanna be box office they just want delivering message. Infact about almost all Academy awards winners among least watched films of the years since they really more value art then boxoffice rank bs.

[@bovinicide]

I had that niggling feeling that I couldn't put my finger on but which you have perfectly articulated my viewing experience. Like you said the highlights were absolutely the non-actors/real nomads appearance - this is what I wanted more of thinking this should just be a documentary on these guys. Thanks for making and sharing this awesome video!

[@Victor_Andrei]

I know it's shocking, but, hear me out: poor people can be strong and stoic, they can have principles and values and healthy coping mechanisms too. I know, crazy! But whatever makes upper middle class you feel morally better, I guess.

[@myrajackson-rain5483]

I am so glad you said this. I find myself soon to be in this situation with no other choices available to me...I watched the movie to feel, not to critique the truthfulness of the depiction of a certain group of society...

[@DAllenMartinphotos]

I'm far from rich, but when the last member of my immediate family (my father) passed away after I spent nearly a decade as his caretaker, and left me a house in Missouri that I never wanted to live in, in a town where I had no one, IO sold it all and went nomad myself to take a real shot at my own "fantasy", being a real nature and wildlife photographer. after 20 years of sittings, events, etc, and having had my work in 3 fine art mags, this was my dream. Now I'm living it. My work isn't selling, and I'm out of money, making due on what I get from disability, but I've LOVED the last year I've spent on the road and still love living this lifestyle. Is there a difference between having a mobile lifestyle and being homeless? DEFINITELY! But there is a very wide grey area separating the two with a lot of overlap in some cases. I've yet to watch the movie, but I hear a lot of people trash talk "vanlife" as "glorifying homelessness", and the two are not the same. Building out a 2021 Promaster with most of the same comforts as a small apartment is not the same as living in a beat up car, hoping it gets you to the next town every time you turn the key.

[@OkOk-kk5ys]

How come some people enjoy digging ditches and others hate it. One person believes he's getting paid to work out and get into great physical shape. The other person thinks he's stuck digging ditches and the day drags on. It's all about attitude and perspective.

[@SwingingInTheHood]

Haven't seen it. Appreciate your giving me another aspect about it to consider. I live in Los Angeles, surrounded by these "happy" homeless people. They live in tents on sidewalks and on freeway overpasses and in front of old buildings. They line the streets of mostly abandoned factories in dilapidated mobile homes. And they fill our streets and freeway underpasses with more and more garbage and human waste every day. I took 5th street downtown (Los Angeles) a couple weeks ago and could not believe the thousands upon thousands of homeless, dirty, crazy people roaming that area. And, they are the people that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences famously "displaced" in order to hold the Oscars ceremony this year at Union Station for the couple hundred (if that) celebrities who decided to show up. As the best picture award went to a movie about these very same people. Believe it or not, I never actually thought of Nomadland in this context. Now that I do, I'm not sure I want to watch it either.

[@leed5450]

Well said. That whole oscars irony moment is just a liberal logic .

[@balladbay2037]

Personally I would recommend you to watch some other movie. This is the most boring movie I've ever seen in my life.

[@danford7532]

I have known these people and followed their lives for years. The truth is people with few resources, and several in the final years of life, want to spend their most valuable resource, time, where they want, and not under the control of others! This is a desire of rich and poor!

[@UKRmusiclyrics]

this film, as for me, is not about poverty, but about loneliness

[@corbinmarkey466]

This video really opened my eyes. I watched it once, it was my least favorite of the Best Picture movies. I was lukewarm, I thought it looked pretty and I liked the non actors, but it was honestly pretty boring. But knowing why Frances McDormand wanted to make the movie just.... paints the whole movie in this very cynical light.

[@nozakidesu2478]

Very good class analysis from a city slicker

[@JoKaiGonZo]

Sneed

[@TheKinoCorner]

Sneed

[@visitorinformation1203]

Sneed

[@AyStar]

Sneed

[@robeIIe]

sneed

[@BlizzerdBlue]

Thank you for making this. You explain my feelings about this movie really well and I'll share this if I ever get into a conversation about nomadland

[@thicketwings05]

I have lived off grid for several months, although I'm currently in a shared house for a spell. If this was based in the UK, I would have liked to see how she dealt with all the rain/damp clothing. Being homeless can be terrifying. Dealing with the police or other people who you are with, but don't trust. Dealing with rats and mice. This was a rose tinted film.

[@kevinericsongs]

she is not homeless! her van is her home..i lived in a tent for two years,i never called myself homeless-my home was my tent

[@desertroad4378]

I really enjoyed this movie, and found the realism of the characters a genuine touch.. I used to have a part time job for a few nights a week in another city over three hours drive away from where I lived, so I bought a large station wagon and set up a bed in the back so I could sleep in the vehicle during the day between nightshifts in the company carpark, I would then drive home after my last shift when my work week was done. There was a freedom in knowing I could do this, and saved a fortune on gas and time not being in traffic by not having to head home after each shift. I related to the cold in the movie as the Winter months were a struggle sometimes, but a workmate recommended getting a high quality sleeping bag to use with a hot water bottle, warm as toasties after that..

[@nobodyfromnowwhere7510]

Hollywood is full of hypocrites. Also, water wet, fire hot. These and other shocking truths on tonight's episode of "Duh." With that sarcasm aside, yeah, rich people live with their wealth by telling themselves they are far more burdened than the poor, that the poor have a richness they don't.

[@dkoch2]

Loved this movie. What I took from this film was not letting opportunities slip you by, live life to the fullest. Made me think about alot of the dreams I have that I'm not able to do because I have things standing in my way whether it be work, my own hesitations etc. and decided I need to push forward to accomplish what I want to do in life.

[@DeathGrip1202]

When I first saw it, I liked it. I still think it is good movie, but for many of the reasons you have pointed out, I think less of it now. The fact that it cut out the workplace abuses at Amazon shown in the book in order to film at the shipping center does not sit well with me. It definitely treats Fern's poverty as a decision and not an inescapable situation, especially since her sister gives her money when she needs it and she had a place to stay at the end that wasn't a van. Also, would you consider The Florida Project a realistic depiction of poverty without crossing into poverty porn?

[@derek96720]

Having grown up poor like the people in the Florida project are, it's pretty realistic, Hollywood conventions aside. The thing that got most accurate was simply the vibe of how poor kids are just left to their own devices a lot of the time, wandering around apartment complexes while their single parents work whatever odd jobs they can find. I also recognized the borderline adolescent mental state of the girl's mother, which frankly is common with a lot of the younger single parents you see in poverty situations. These are people who never had good parental role models growing up, and so remain in a permanent state of mental adolescence.

[@MarkAfterDark]

I loved this. And what's better was ending on good movies about poverty.

[@danail.9997]

Another great movie is the "Killer of sheep"

[@Megalodon.666]

if you watch the recent season of YOU in netflix, those british people are the kind audiences who watches this kind of movie.

[@marsthelewis]

Compelling analysis! The underlying idea that the film ‘should’ have done various things is debatable, though. As you said, it wasn’t about the people or poverty, it was about that character. There’s a place for that. There is no definitive social value in art - there are diverse values. I learned a lot from this video. Thank you!

[@iangeorge7913]

I agree with a lot of the individual points you make (Hollywood focusing on disempowered people in their narratives to make Oscar bait movies/the wealthy being tourists to the lives of the poor...) but you haven't convinced me that Nomadland is the concentration of all these ideas. I don't think every movie about the poor or impoverished needs to be a gritty and bleak rallying cry, so long as its a fair depiction of their lives. I also don't think Chloe Zhao is the Marvel/Disney/Hollywood plant that you paint her to be. Just because Hollywood finds a movie to embrace doesn't immediately make it a vapid, lifeless Oscar bait film. Would you say the same for Moonlight? or Parasite? You also are reading a lot into very small details, like one quote from Frances McDormant or a gift basket that some person at a marketing agency probably came up with, as if Chloe Zhao made it herself. I think there's some valid criticisms to consider and think about with this movie, I think you just tried too hard to make too strong of a point, and your ending conspiracy only caused me to doubt any good will you may have approached this essay with.

[@fuchigama]

As someone who has been on the verge of homelessness, and has had to resort to moving back into my parent's house several times, this movie just makes me sick to my stomach. The lifestyle isn't something to idolize.

[@kimjongun2266]

When I was a kid, I wanted to run away and be poor because of hollywood romanticism of the homeless, im glad I didn't tho

[@bryant7369]

What the fuck 😂😂😂😂😂

[@benf1111]

Username checks out.

[@peergynt6515]

*pat on the back* I think you made the right choice.

[@harryc5595]

This was the most unfathomably based review I've ever heard

[@michaelcleary267]

You give a real good talk on this,the points about the food being expensive for such people at a dinner are so spot on.I know that if truly the in your face true lifestyle was shown,the loneliness,the uncertainty,the poor wages,I could go deeper,it would show a bleak movie,I think the director used some wisdom so as not to bring a hopelessness to the people who really live this life seeing this movie. Or those who are entering it especially at this time.

[@lindakelly9552]

I watched this movie on Hulu. It showed someone whose plant had closed, losing her home and being forced to live out of a van and crap in a bucket doing odd jobs. I was right with her through her journey and yes it had some moments that were grand in enjoying a great sunset or a peaceful pond etc. But when she was given a choice to live and work on a beautiful farm along with a man she seemed to have a great friendship with, but she chooses to leave and go back to crapping in a bucket, she totally lost me. You can live better and still every weekend go out and vacation in a van if you want but the film perhaps romanticized and glamorized the lifestyle too much. Seasons change, the weather alone can be harsh at times. In the end I thought her choice was ridiculous. It was different when she had no choices but she had a choice and chose wrong to me. Honestly I thought “A Promising Young Woman” should have won the best movie oscar. Its a gut punch movie that everyone should see. It makes you think about a societal problem.

[@jazziered142]

This movie was too cheery? It made me cry. She was heartbroken, I felt that to my soul.

[@ColonelMidi]

just watched in a cinema, i think your spot on. i thought the movie was great for the atmosphere and the visuals. but the fact they highlighted and environment riddled with exploitation but chose not to adress the exploitation in honesty weighed it down HARD. wouldve even prefered a "normal" feel-good film

[@fishtolizard3930]

Thank You.

[@conversacionesconmipadre]

I completely agree!

[@honestly1970]

hipster poverty meets poverty porn. "nomad" is the child of of bohemian and hippie. the difference between a nomad and a homeless person tends to be how far you fell and how many degrees you parachuted in with.

[@honkymonkey9568]

That's funny, the actual nomads loved the movie and commented on how real they were portrayed. Of course, I thought it was painfully boring.

[@allisonmarlow184]

This was intended to highlight the problem seniors, including myself, are facing. Every month I am just dollars away from homelessness, and I've been in the same apt for 11 years - without a car or transportation.

[@TheCrimsonPope]

As an Eastern European from the lower fringe of the middle class, I disagree a bit. I'm not rich, I got to really work to make ends meet (tho I appreciate the luxury of having been born at a good time in a developed country), also in Europe the reality is so enormously different than in the US, yet I was moved by this movie and I feel this was made for me, in a way. Maybe I wasn't moved by Fern's story -- this I automatically assumed was an 'American way', a glamorized vision that your American movies just always have -- but the stories these people told, their thoughts... To me THEY were the foreground of the film, Fern's story merely serving as a vehicle to connect them in a whole.

[@citytrees1752]

The movie isn't offensive to anyone. Its about people. People don't think of themselves as poverty. Only condescending jerks do.

[@JamesMHenley]

I disagree with this synopsis of the move. The presenter of this KZbin video has completely missed the point. Who is this movie for? That is not the question. Suggested reading to understand: Hemmingway, 'A Clean Well Lighted Place'. This movie will be difficult for youth to comprehend, so I don't hold it against the naïve review. Sometimes, a truth is set upon the general population. It doesn't need to "do" anything except offer a glimmer of reality. In this, Nomadland is exceptional. The modern era has created a belief that the value of a story is in its economics, as this review underscores. How untrue. This movie is the quintessential truth of modern America. Do everything the way society asks. Follow the rules, pay your taxes, work work work, save save save, dedicate yourself to your job, to your employer, to management, to the corporation. Do everything that is asked, and yet when you reach the end of your existence, crumbs is what you should expect. You'll be left behind, to be eaten by the jungle. This was NOT a movie about poverty. This was a movie about people who did everything right, and it made little difference. This movie is about a world that has forgotten its values and underscores societal failure. It's the story of "stray dogs", except these are people. It is an extraordinary truth. Just because you do not understand the truth does not mean the truth doesn't exist. I'm sorry for the reviewer here. He simple hasn't seen the world at face value. I suggest reading (not watching, no no no) the book by Victor Hugo, Les Misérables. Nomadland is the Victor Hugo media event of 2020. Finally, I somewhat resent the idea that there is an underlying conspiracy to win an award to legitimize the Marvel movies. This is what drove me to comment. I guess the only redeeming value of this review was putting on the tin foil hat. That seemed appropriate. I'm giving this a "thumbs up", not because I believe the review, but because I hope people read the comments :-)

[@maddied2045]

YES!

[@christyannboggs7142]

Your discussion with Appalachia and the idea that mobile homes/trailers or looked down upon but tiny homes are revered hits me hard. I can see the correlation with Americans who HAVE to live out of their vehicle versus #vanlife. I would love to see a list of movies that you think depict the region because "Hillbilly Elegy" certainly wasn't it either. Lovely discussion!

[@QuietlyCurious]

Agree, it didn't truly confront the issue of American poverty. Frances McDormand's acting was so engrossing tho, it wasn't until the very last frames of the movie that I realized just how romanticized the subject matter was. Ur review is spot on. They tried to seriously confront the issue during maybe the first 20 minutes of the film but ultimately switched focus to a softball character study. Missed opportunity. Indeed, the real life nomads were the best. I couldn't believe these weren't actors; I just thought casting had achieved miraculous results lol Their performances were all wonderful.

[@austinshafted8182]

Love your videos and thank you for your work!

[@jeanade9010]

Wow, thank you for the review! I almost just rented it, but decided to look up reviews first. Yours is the first one I watched and I felt like I didn’t need to go further. Glad I didn’t rent.

[@sandorx4]

It was terrible. It was really weird to read that many of the people in the film didn't understand that Frances McDormand was an actress. This is from IMDB "Bob still did not know this until they shot an emotional scene in which Fern remembers her late husband, Bo. Afterward, he said to McDormand privately that it meant a lot for her to tell him that story and that everything was going to be OK. She subsequently revealed to him that her husband's name was actually Joel Coen and he was still alive, which surprised Bob as he learned that McDormand was, in fact, an actress." Was the director that dishonest?

[@markbajek2541]

I guess bob's not a big Fargo fan

[@daveday999]

I just watched it and and you are wrong. The movie doesn’t paint a pretty picture of being poor. And when it shows something positive about the nomad life, the beauty of nature, you don’t believe they should enjoy it?? You don’t think they should enjoy the time they spend together?? What is sanitizes and romantic about shitting in a bucket?

[@Hauerization]

Great commentary, instant sub!

[@mustangsandwich]

Very interesting take. I want to see the movie. But, that's because I've seen the poverty here in California all over. First time taking my son camping when he was little (back in 2007) about half the campground was people actually living in tents and moving campground to campground. It REALLY affected me seeing that... It was out of Grapes of Wrath...

[@makego]

It wasn't voyeurism, it wasn't poverty porn, it was recognition. The movie got it right. I have lived this life for six years now. Every place I saw in the movie, I've been there. You are trying to de-romanticize it, to delegitimize what is a valid lifestyle. I thank Frances for recognizing those who had to depart, for one reason or another, as did I. Even in the fictional narrative of Fern, I see and feel myself. Sorry it wasn't your ideal of how miserable the poor and houseless (not homeless; important point) should be. This life and community is beautiful. We make it so, even if you don't understand it or think we ought to.

[@maddied2045]

Love this

[@ProperJohnmusic]

i feel like this video just saved me time