An account of people trapped in the cage of poverty and misery !!!

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2016)

The Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford from a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson was the film adaptation of the very well known and renowned book of the same name by John Steinbeck. The film like the book is set during the era of the Great Depression in the 1930s and follows the Joad family from Oklahoma as they deal with poverty on their way to the 'promised land' of California after being thrown out of their own land and property.
The themes of the film revolve around the concept of the loss of home. After the Joads get uprooted from their home like many other farmer families, they head out for California in their truck. This truck becomes their mobile home. They become wanderers in search of a real home. It is unreal how the issue of migrants that enrich Steinbeck's novel and Ford's film is still extremely relevant to this very day. We see the local officials mistreat, mislead and exploit them and all the poor migrants like the Joads go along with it with the hope that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. The Darwinian concept of the 'survival of the fittest' also comes very much into the equation. Once the Joads leave their land, some members of the family lose their grit, hope and conviction like Grandpa, Grandma and Pa, while on the other hand, the misery and sorry plight of the circumstances emboldens Ma and makes her the source of strength for everyone including Tom. Tom Joad is a very interesting character. He starts out as the angry loner. He then comes into contact and becomes a part of the family unit. But the misery and struggles force him in an ironic sense to re-embrace the identity of the outlaw loner to bring about a change. The purity and sweetness of the mother-son relationship between Tom and Ma is given a lot of attention by Ford and Johnson, even more so than Steinbeck did in the novel.
Ford's direction in the film is understated and not very flashy. There are moments of great artistic imagery, eg: the 3 shadows trampled by the tractor marks, Gregg Toland's brilliant cinematography under Ford's direction involving shadows specially in the scene where Tom and Casy meet Muley, the brilliant shot where the Joad family leaves on their truck bidding adieu to their home and Ford decides to hold the shot a few seconds longer after they have left to show the wind, dust and garbage blowing towards the house,etc. Ford's direction in the scenes in the Transient Camps is absolutely brilliant. He uses the moving camera from the perspective of the Joads to introduce them and the viewers to all the other migrants. The other aspects of those scenes involving the hungry kids are very touching.
But the film I thought is flawed. First of all, clearly due to all the restrictions that films of that era were plagued by, there are a lot of crucial aspects of the original novel that get watered down a bit. I am certainly not someone who gets annoyed when the film is very different to the original source material because I have the maturity to understand that cinema and literature are two completely different fields. But I do think if the political aspect of the novel was explored more boldly in the film, it would have worked to its benefit. Another aspect of the film that put me off a bit is some of the hokey nature of the written lines. Nunnally Johnson's writing at times gets too cheesy and overt. The overt nature of some of the lines spoken by the characters might work on the page of a book, but on screen, it does stick out in an ugly way. The acting by the ensemble cast is also a bit too theatrical at times which made it difficult for me to maintain a constant emotional attachment with the characters.
Although the quality of acting is not consistent from everyone, but Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, Jane Darwell as Ma Joad and John Qualen as Muley are the ones who stand out. Fonda accurately conveys the repressed anger and frustration that makes up Tom's character with moments of touching emotions. Darwell is as likable as ever as Ma. She exudes a caring and loving quality that is impossible to avoid. She also plays the character with some strength as Ma does in a way become the backbone of the family after they leave their home. Although John Qualen has a peculiar appearance, but the power of his performance forced me to really empathise with Muley's pains and struggles.
'The Grapes of Wrath' is not flawless. In my view it has its fair share of issues much of which was down to rigid restrictions that were imposed upon the films of that era. But even with its flaws, it still is a very solid John Ford film which made me feel for the characters. Just like the novel, it forces the viewer to put themselves in the shoes of the central characters and live the struggle with them.