The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The very definition of a classic, in capital letters. It took me a bit of time to adjust to that very old style acting and storytelling, but once I accepted that it is hard to deny that is fantastic touching storytelling. It is very pure, sincere and authentic in what it wants to say. The kids getting excited about regular toilets felt so real, contrasted with an earlier scene where a man retells the horrors of his family dying of starvation. Sets things in perspective, even though we just hear about that kind of stuff and not really see it. There is still a sense that this takes in a world where that kind of thing happens.
There is so much compassion for these hard working folks, who really don’t demand much in life, other than basically not starve. Which society and the economy almost denies them. It touches upon and flirts with anti-capitalistic ideas, though it doesn’t fully commit to it. Could this have been made in the 1950s in America?
Rating: 3.5