More like a documentary

Rating: 7/10 (5 May 2013)

I haven't read the novel so can't compare to it; but I am sure from what I have heard that it is like one of the greatest novels of 19th century, the movie probably falls short of the novel. Expressing emotion in a restrained fashion, without using overtly emotional words or body language is something I have now come to associate with the B/W Hollywood cinema. But even accounting for that, the emotive quotient of the movie could have been a tad higher. The Joad family cuts across the width of America from Oklahoma to California in a dumpster truck, lock stock and barrel. Poor grandpa doesn't want to leave the earth he grew up in and the earth grants him the wish, albeit in a tragic way as he dies en-route. Grandma follows suit, though much closer to California. Her burial scene is unceremoniously skipped and I found her body getting carried along with live people for so long a little macabre honestly. The kids seem to have no context of the whole situation which is again a bit weird given that the girl is pretty grown up. They are just happy-go-lucky all the time not missing a single thing and not regretting any piece of the journey. Uncle John also doesn't show any character, nor does the pregnant women. In fact, I believe the chief character of the movie is the mother, but she symbolizes the all-too-familiar middle class matriarch much more than a woman from the time and space she is required to represent in the movie. The situations themselves are assumed to be already known to the audience with the screenplay not bothering too much with explaining the details of what is going on. So my verdict - one time watch. Also I am going to read the novel now and I am sure after that I am going to understand the movie more and like it even less.