Nomadland (2020)

Isn't this just a movie about a woman who decided from day one to be different from everyone else? I didn't walk away thinking this was some story about being poor.🤔

Exactly. Based on what her sister says, Fern was always labeled as "eccentric" or just... different from everyone else.

But let’s be real. When you're pulling shifts at some vegetable processing plant, hauling heavy bags of beets or chard, and freezing your ass off in a camper van that's basically your entire net worth... yeah. You don't know if you're actually broke or just one bad week away from being totally destitute.

The movie is framed as this commentary on people forced into a nomadic lifestyle because they simply can't afford a house or an apartment due to skyrocketing real estate prices. That’s likely why it snagged an Oscar; if they had pitched it as just some story about a rebellious old lady driving across the USA, it wouldn't have even made the nomination list.

Look, the woman literally sold everything just to buy a motorhome and live that lifestyle. Her whole motivation wasn't some economic meltdown forcing her hand... it was about escaping the heartbreak of losing her husband and her job. I mean, I don't know if she lost her house to a foreclosure or whatever, but that definitely wasn't it.

Now, there's a whole different conversation regarding how the movie was marketed and what kind of message they were trying to sell us, but honestly, they just didn't actually show it on screen.

I didn't realize McDormand sold her house because the company she and her husband worked for went under. I'm not sure if her hometown has declined or if others stayed while she decided to seek freedom by leaving her prefab home behind to travel across the USA in an RV.
If I recall correctly, she could have just chosen retirement. Regardless, American payouts are much larger than ours, so there's no reason to feel sorry for her.

Rudan says the movie portrays the beauty of poverty, and because of that, she finds the film distasteful (or something to that effect).
I don't see anything to complain about. It's her choice. She is simply a bit of a rebel—someone who has been more sensitive to injustice since she was a child (according to her sister)—which even leads her to clash with real estate speculators who exploit the basic human need for housing to drive up prices.

Fine. She decided not to be a slave to a house or property lines like Americans often are. Half of Germans don't even own real estate. Instead, they travel more and enjoy their money and experiences. Germans don't view owning property as the ultimate life achievement the way Americans do. For us, having an extra few hundred square feet matters more than seeing the world.

The factory where she worked shut down, and since that town was basically built around that one plant, the whole place just collapsed. Everyone packed up and left. She couldn't even sell her house because nobody would touch it.
She didn't leave by choice; she left because there was nothing else to do once everyone else bailed.
The movie laid all of this out right at the start.

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Look, all I know is that here in America and across most of the States, nobody moves into a trailer park or lives in a campground because they're broke. If anyone actually tried that... they’d change their mind real fast!

The American system just allows it, so plenty of people do it just to follow some random whim. It isn't always about the money. Sometimes, it's just pure hippie vibes.🙂

As for this movie, I don't feel a shred of sympathy for the lead actress, nor for anyone else involved. People "enjoy" themselves in their own weird ways, and once they get sick of living in a literal gutter due to war... they'll go right back to a normal lifestyle.👍

vividstag16 said:I don't feel any empathy for the lead actress or anyone else in this movie. People find their own ways to cope; once the chaos of war settles down, they'll just drift back to their usual routines.👍

Exactly. It’s their call. The real question is whether you’d feel more empathy if they were actual homeless people, but that would be an entirely different movie. Regardless, it’s interesting watching the debate unfold here—seeing who has valid points or justifications and who doesn't. It turns out this is a pretty controversial topic. 😁

Comparing America to the USA😵

Finally got around to watching this one

The movie looks incredibly realistic—if it weren't for Frances McDormand, I’d honestly think I was watching a documentary. But what does that matter if it's just boring? There's zero plot—I stepped out to hit the restroom, grabbed a snack in the kitchen, went back to my room to get my laptop, and realized I hadn't missed a single thing. I ended up fast-forwarding through quite a bit.

Frances is great, sure, but man—she always plays these exact same types of characters. This isn't exactly Oscar material to me.

It's watchable, but ultimately underwhelming and forgettable. 5/10