Don't be turned off by Steinbeck, this is classic American cinema

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2010)

Any John Steinbeck title-turned-film tends to scare away contemporary viewers with thoughts of two-plus hours of depressing country drama, but we often forget how radical Steinbeck was for his time, particularly with his Depression-era Dust Bowl novel "The Grapes of Wrath." With an adaptation by one of Hollywood's first great directors (and greatest frontier/Western director) in John Ford, this film is anything but a classic adapted for the screen just for the sake of it.
Starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, "The Grapes of Wrath" centers on Joad, recently paroled after killing a man in self-defense, and his large family (including parents, grandparents, uncle, sister, brother, etc.) traveling out to California after being forced out of their Oklahoma home in search of work. This one flame of a new life out west, however, slowly begins to flicker away as they find out more and more that they're one of thousands competing for the same few hundred low-wage contractor jobs.
The realization creeps up on the characters and even ourselves. A whopping 70 years later, if you come to the film without putting your history cap on, you'll almost be convinced the Joads have a shot. Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson hinges much of the film's movement on moments of realization, creating a growing shadow. Ford gives each scene a chance to sink in with his lingering closing shots that slowly fade to black. These are ancient foreshadow techniques, but Ford reminds us why they're timeless.
The building tension keeps "Wrath" from festering too long in thoughts about good and evil and what actions make a man one or the other, which was sort of radical thinking for the Depression era. The former preacher Casy (John Carradine) who lives like a hobo and claims he no longer has the spirit because he cannot determine automatically what is right or wrong anymore was more progressive than we realize. Occasionally the script will go back on itself or insert somewhat needless moments of pause for Ma Joad (Oscar winner Jane Darwell) to sermonize about Steinbeck's themes, but audiences probably needed to be hit over the head with this stuff in 1940; it is a different philosophy, that's for sure.
Tom Joad's famous speech to Ma as he leaves his family to go off and fight the cause ("wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there ... ") is one of the earliest American "one person can make a difference fighting for what he/she believes in" speeches on camera. Since 1940 we've had so many more examples of real life people who have stood up for a cause and fought injustice. "The Grapes of Wrath" might seem unoriginal in that thought, but in American history, it's hardly the case. And most certainly, that message will never become irrelevant in spite of hope that it one day might be.
~Steven C
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