Nomadland movie explores what happens when the Great Recession of 2007-2009 hit the Americans hard. This film is based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Jessica Bruder. And it tells a touching story.
However, it is worth noting that the complete title of the said book is “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.” Thus, this picture is inspired by real-life stories of the elderly citizens of America, whose lives were adversely impacted by the slowdown in the USA’s economy.
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Nomadland (2021) movie:- details
| Genre | Drama |
| Released | February 2021 |
| Age-restrictions | UA |
| Director | Chloé Zhao |
| Writers | Chloé Zhao, Jessica Bruder |
| Taglines | Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century |
| Cast | Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Gay DeForest, etc. {Except for Frances McDormand and David Strathairn, most of the cast members in the film are actual nomads and local people, listing their real first names for their nomads/local characters.} |
| Awards | Academy Awards, USA – 2021 Winner Oscar – Best Motion Picture of the Year {Frances McDormand is the first actress to win for acting as well as producing for the same film.} Academy Awards, USA – 2021 Winner Oscar – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Frances McDormand Academy Awards, USA – 2021 Winner Oscar – Best Achievement in Directing – Chloé Zhao {First Asian Woman to win for Best Director} BAFTA Awards – 2021 Winner BAFTA Film Award – Best Film BAFTA Awards – 2021 Winner BAFTA Film Award – Best Leading Actress -Frances McDormand BAFTA Awards – 2021 Winner BAFTA Film Award – Best Director – Chloé Zhao BAFTA Awards – 2021 Winner BAFTA Film Award – Best Cinematography – Joshua James Richards Golden Globes, USA – 2021 Winner Golden Globe – Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globes, USA – 2021 Winner Golden Globe – Best Director – Motion Picture – Chloé Zhao |
Nomadland (2021) movie:- synopsis
Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West.
Nomadland (2021) movie:- {Spoilers Free} review
Following the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009, this film delves deep into the phenomenon of elderly Americans who have adopted nomadic lifestyles, travelling around the United States of America in search of seasonal work and thereby earning a living to sustain themselves financially. It is a tough life for all of them, as this picture tells a bitter-sweet tale about the so-called chasing of the American Dream.
This heartbreaking movie is beautifully shot, directed and acted. One feels a range of emotions while watching this movie, sometimes it makes one happy and most times it causes sadness.
One must appreciate Frances McDormand, Chloé Zhao, Joshua James Richards and the entire team of this film; all of them have performed an excellent task in bringing this realistic contemporary tale about the economic hardships being endured by commoners. When I re-watched this movie during the COVID-19 lockdown period, I wondered about the fate of millions of daily-wage earners in India (and around the world), who lost their jobs and livelihoods.
Such are the harsh realities of our lives.
Nomadland (2021) movie:- poster
Nomadland (2021) movie:- ratings
| FM’s rating | 4.05/5 |
| IMDb rating as of the date | 7.30/10 |
| Rotten Tomatoes ratings as of the date | 93% Tomatometer & 82% Audience Score |
| Rotten Tomatoes/Critics Consensus | A poetic character study of the forgotten and downtrodden, this film beautifully captures the restlessness left in the wake of the Great Recession. |
| Rotten Tomatoes/Audience Says | Hang in there with its slow pace and downer of a story — Frances McDormand is fantastic, and this beautifully filmed drama may even help you appreciate your own life more. |
Focus:- author Jessica Bruder of Nomadland
Here is what the author Jessica Bruder said about her book, from which this film is inspired.
From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves “workampers.
Jessica Bruder | Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
Focus:- actress Frances McDormand
Ever since the days of the Fargo film, I have been a great fan of the phenomenal actress Frances McDormand (check her pic. shared above), now with this film, she has won her third Best Actress Oscar Award from the academy, perhaps the first Hollywood actress the achieve such a feat. Thankfully, I have seen all the movies mentioned below. And I cannot forget her act in Fargo, even now, a couple of decades later.
- Best Actress for her performance in “Fargo” at the 69th Annual Academy Awards® in 1997.
- Best Actress for her performance in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” at the 90th Oscars® in 2018.
- Best Actress for her role in “Nomadland” at the 93rd Oscars® in 2021.
Frances is truly an immensely gifted and highly dedicated actress. You know, some of the remarkable facts, that we learnt is that in this Nomadland picture, Frances McDormand is in every scene. Also, the fact that many of Frances McDormand’s co-stars in this film had no idea she was a Hollywood star. Further, we discovered the detail that Frances actually performed several of the jobs done by people who do nomadic work, such as harvesting beets as well as doing packaging work for Amazon orders; over the course of a four to five months period while shooting for this movie in seven different states of the USA.
So, for real, Frances adopted a nomadic lifestyle during the making of this film. Thus, she was constantly on the move to make the film seem more convincing and truthful. I have shared a few photographs of Frances McDormand in this article, which paints a haunting portrayal of a woman in her sixties, who has lost everything during the Great Recession and then she decides to adopt a tough life of a nomad in the American West.
Nomadland (2021) movie:- trailer
If you like watching Nomadland movies dealing with serious subject matters, then check out the Bheed (2023) film from India.
Featured & Other Images: Nomadland | IMDb.