Modern Films Should Be This Good

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2002)

What a powerful and moving story this is! Steinbeck's novel of the harsh conditions that were faced by the migrant farm workers during the Great Depression is brought to life in a very convincing way in this movie. What is especially good is how the victims are portrayed as real people with real faults and passions. Tom Joad was a convicted murderer whose past crime is trivialized because he was drunk when he killed another man in a fight. But yet, he was basically an honest man just wanting to make his way in the world without causing trouble. The preacher is a fallen man whose sin destroyed his faith. In the book, Grandpa was a vile and obscene man. The mother put up with all the faults of her family as she fought to keep them together. They were real people who were simply caught on the wrong end of the stick.
Life was very hard at that time, and unfortnately the "have nots" were at a serious disadvantage. Human nature being what it is, there are people of all political stripes who will take advantage of one another in the name of economic necessity.
At the same time, the movie shows the real struggle of people on both sides of the problem when faced with limited resources. One fact of life is that those who are most educated and know how to work within the system are the ones who are best able to survive. This movie is excellent at showing the struggle of one family who is unfortunately caught up in forces that they are unable to understand and are unable to get themselves out of. It's more than a story of "good poor people" versus "bad rich people." It also shows the real fears of the land owners who did what they thought they had to do to protect their rights and property from an invasion of homeless and hungry people.
The person who wrote the review here saying that George Bush stole the election seemed to be writing his own "sour grapes" of wrath. There was no stolen election. His swan song about the glories of the Clinton economy ignores the fact that it was the previous administration's climate of moral decay and "it's the economy, stupid" policies that created the environment for all of the Enron-type corporate crimes that are just now being uncovered. He blames the current administration for the recent recession but evidently doesn't realize that the economy had been heading for the tank during the last year of Clinton's watch; it is now coming back under Bush.

I only mention these inconsistencies because it is tempting to view this film as a condemnation of conservative politics, when it is nothing of the sort. The person writing that review is simply irresponsible to suggest that a George Bush presidency fosters the same conditions that caused all the suffering depicted in The Grapes of Wrath. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter: Those who own wealth will do whatever they can to keep it, while those who don't will do what they have to do within their means to get it. Some people are just more honest than others in how they go about it. That's the human condition, and this movie depicts it in a very powerful way.
Watching the movie, you can identify with the hopelessness of the Joad's circumstances. You can also identify with the hope that no matter how badly they get pushed around by forces they can't control, they will ultimately survive.

Very highly recommended. IMO this is Henry Fonda's best role!