The Great Depression's desolation is effectively re-created

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 1999)

Besides entertaining, the motion picture can educate, inspire, or raise awareness about important issues occurring or having occurred in the world. "The Grapes of Wrath" is a film about the Great Depression. We don't learn much about it from the film, but the film's quality does something just as good, it raises the viewer's curiosity about it, and he is inspired to look it up. What caused it? How widespread was it? Did anyone actually starve to death because of it? If so, how many? How did it end, i.e. what was the solution to conjure up its demise?
Many films have been made about the Great Depression. This is one of the best. It is based on the novel by John Steinbeck (who also wrote "Of Mice and Men" and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962), "The Grapes of Wrath" was nominated for the Best Picture of 1940 by the American Motion Picture Academy (Hitchcock's "Rebecca" won).
Henry Fonda gives the performance of a lifetime as a young man who has returned from jail to discover that his family's spirit has been crushed from their loss of land and home. They come across a flyer advertising 800 agricultural jobs in California and decide to head out west. Unfortunately, thousands of people responded in the same way to the add. Rather than hire only the manpower needed, the abusive employers hired all they could but cut their wages lower than what was required for survival.
The Great Depression's desolation both in the environment and in the spirit of the people is effectively re-created. The characters were memorable with their weak command of English. "Grandpa" was a hoot. This is a classic. 10/10.