Family Values at Their Best

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2014)

John Ford examines the plight of families at the (cusp) of the great depression. The story is centered around the family of protagonist Tom Jobe. Tom is reunited with his family after serving a four year prison sentence for killing a guy in a dance hall. Ford has such a fluid style of film making. The viewer becomes a part of the family as they pack into their old truck and head west to California. I find that Ford uses a lot of visual metaphors to convey his ideas. For instance, when a families house is demolished, ford pans down to the shadows of the family cast over the tracks of the tractor. Symbolizing the destruction of their whole life. With each day the situation seems to get worse as the sun goes down, but each day brings a new hope as the sun comes over the horizon. The film makers fully understood the effects of lighting, that's part of what makes Fords films so great.