Review of The Grapes of Wrath (1940) by Melvin W — 25 Jan 2012

John Ford directed a film based off a novel that everyone loved. It was written in 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. This is just 10 years after the stock market crash and everyone was still feeling the effects.

A year after the book was published, The Grapes of Wrath came to the big screen. John Ford gave the people something to connect to. They were seeing stories that they knew all too well. But it showed them they weren't alone.

There is such great heart behind the film that it hard not to feel something from it. I think the first scene that really hit me was when Ma put the earrings over her ears and looked at herself in the mirror.

Here's a woman who has been evicted from her home and is leaving the state the next day. She misses being the pretty young woman she once was. Where did the time go? What about this future that you dream about having when you're young? All of this within a single shot.

And the film is filled with these moments. Tom Joad wants to change himself around and help his family move to California and give them a better life. But he can't stand someone treating someone else poorly.

We assume this is why he fought and killed a man, which landed him a 7 year sentence in prison. Henry Fonda plays this rough character in an interesting way. We don't think he's dangerous, but when he is put in a situation we know what he will do.

The way he looks at the police passing him, or when they get to the camp to pick peaches he won't take their lies. It was an interesting choice that when they bring Grandpa on the truck to leave Uncle Joe's house he is as stiff as a board, like a dead body.

I thought that was perfect. And the night they get stopped and Grandma is dead in the truck with her eyes open gave me an eery feeling. I just had a feeling she was dead without having been told much.

John Ford really didn't have to say too much with the film. He lets you feel what is going on. Just show the tragedy of everyone and that's all you need. These are the working class and they will be around forever.

We see them today, and this story will, sadly, always have a relevance to society.