A classic of the human condition

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2000)

I think it is most ironic that independent filmmakers claim to despise "the Hollywood" film in favor of making "personal cinema" when one looks at the films of perhaps the most Hollywood sytem ingrained and yet stunningly personal films of John Ford.His films hold up because they display his personal love of character, land, place (there is a difference), time, honor, tradition and ritual. The Grapes of Wrath is one of his finest pictures. His obsessions and political leanings come to life in Steinbeck's haunting and searing narrative.I agree with many of the other IMDB reviewers, there is much in this film that is pure leftist propaganda and that Reifenstahl and Eisenstien's influence can be seen. This is certainly true in the masked stormtrooper bulldozer montage. But propaganda, like the very medium of film itself, operates on pure emotion. This film is loaded with one emotional image after another. The photography of Gregg Toland matches the best of Life magazine in its immediacy and realism, while at the same time dramatically recapturing the best of German Expressionism. There are so many frames that could stand as works of photographic art. The look of the film stands proudly next to the work of Benton, Hopper, O'Keefe, Capa, and Bourke-White as examples of American visual art.The cast is uniformly honest, sincere and utterly real in thier inhabitation of character. John Carradine, Russell Simpson, Jane Darwell, John Qualen and the great Charley Grapewin all give performances that are on the level with anything ever produced from a Actor's Studio graduate.Enough can not be possibly said about Henry Fonda's performance as Tom Joad. Simply put it is one of the finest characterizations ever captured on film. He was not just an American pop culture icon, he was a fine dramatic artist.The script captures much of the best of Steinbeck's novel with fantastically illuminating and human quotes. It preaches to be sure, but never at the expense of the narrative. This is a lesson so many "serious" film makers have yet to learn.The film has not dated in terms of its impact on the heart. Grapes of Wrath is about a specific time and place in American History yes, but it is also about what it means to be a human being. In that sense, it transcends nationalism and is fine work of World Literature. It is on equal with Citizen Kane as one of the finest films ever made. A 10 out of 10.