Masterpiece of film-making

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2005)

If you're not familiar with the Production Code Administration during the time of this film, The Grapes of Wrath may lose a lot of its hidden meanings. John Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland wanted this film to have a documentary feel (hence the type of shots used), and for the most part, it accurately displays the realities of the depression. However certain additions to the movie that separate it from the book, including a totally different ending that neither Ford or Toland wanted to add give the movie a contradictory feeling to it (thanks to the PCA).
The harsh struggles of the Joads throws the viewer into a world of desperation, mistreatment, and death. Anyone that saw this during it's original must have been moved, as for today's generation, it's hard to imagine the kind of destitution and difficulties the families of the depression endured. And as the viewer begins to sympathize with the Joad's situation, Ford throws a curve with how Tom Joad acts during a meeting with an lost friend.
While it's clear this movie had a political message in mind, the restrictions of the PCA almost ruin the ending, giving almost an opposite message that Ford had.
Technically, Toland is at his usual greatness, putting together shots that make the film appear so real that the viewer wants to step out of their seat and into the scene. While watching The Grapes of Wrath, it's easy for the viewer to forget the advantages of the life we live now and to step into the depression and feel the pain of the main characters.