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The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The IMDB250 series of movies I watched the day before yesterday. The film was released in 1940, a long time ago.
The film tells the story of a peasant family in the United States. A young man has just been released from prison, and when he returns home, he finds that his home is gone. It turned out that the owner of the land wanted to reclaim the land and prevent the people who had lived here for generations to continue farming. The family had to leave. They saw an advertisement for jobs in California and drove there. After a long trek, they came to California, only to find that there was no job to support their family. Because of the large number of migrants, the farmers kept their wages very low for their own interests, and they also fought with the local police to oppress the farmers. By chance, the whole family found a job, but the young man found the job very strange. Later, when learning about the situation, the young man accidentally killed a person, and the whole family had to leave. After stopping in several places, they finally found a government-run camp and settled down. But the police came just a few days after the peaceful day, and the youth who were afraid of going to jail had to flee. The rest of the family also left the camp in search of a new home.
This is a heavy and depressing film, but also a thought-provoking film. The deception of peasants under the capitalist system is undoubtedly revealed in this film. In the hometown, due to the deterioration of the economic environment, the original tenant farmers have no land to cultivate by themselves. Since the peasants have lived here for generations, why not make the land their own? I don't know much about American history, there must be a reason for that, but it's sad for them. In California, in order to maximize profits, farmers have colluded with the police, trying their best to lower wages, raise prices, and drain every drop of blood from farmers. When the peasants have a quiet life, they have to disturb it, and control more peasants in their own hands and serve themselves. And all this, the helpless peasants had to resign.
Such a movie, heavy and depressing, looks very uncomfortable. It's not just a movie that makes farmers angry, it's a movie that makes audiences angry. This film is also a living teaching material, which fully interprets the content learned in the political class in school. It is a pity that after many years, I have largely forgotten what I have learned, and I can only think about it. However, the film is still a good textbook on capitalist economics.
The length of the film is not short, reaching two hours, but the structure is clear and complete, the rhythm is moderate, and it does not look dull. The film is divided into stages every 30 minutes, which can clearly sort out the context of the film. The first 30 minutes are the beginning of the story, getting ready to leave home; the next 30 minutes are on the road, en route to California; the third 30 minutes are in California, looking for a job; the last 30 minutes, life in a quiet government camp and the departure of youth. This makes each stage of the film attractive and has a small climax. These small climaxes deeply attracted me to watch, even though 40% of the movie is dialogue, it does not feel boring. The structure of this film is often seen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. It seems that the films at that time were very standardized.
The rest of the film is pretty decent, nothing special about it. Costumes, styling, props, music, all are average and look dirty. Maybe it's because it's too old, I can't appreciate that era. In addition, although the picture of the film runs through the United States, and there are many beautiful scenery and beautiful scenery on the road, the limitations of black and white films make it impossible to show the beauty of nature, which is a pity.
Henry Fonda, the hero of this film, is a big Hollywood star. He is so young in this film, and now I know how handsome Henry Fonda was when he was young. John Carradine, who plays the priest, is impressive and doesn't make many appearances, but in a limited number of scenes, the character's smart, cynical, and eccentric character is shown, and he is a good actor.
All in all, a textbook-style movie, the plot is not exciting, but the content is thought-provoking, it is still worth watching.
Sequence:
0481 TLF.IMDB.Top169.Grapes of Wrath.Grapes.of.Wrath.1940.D9.MiniSD-TLF
2011-08-02
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