Minor Spoilers Ahead
They say home is where the heart is, and Nomadland is all heart…if you project onto it, at least. Following a woman living in her van going from one temporary, minimum-wage job to the next, the film gives some insight into a world often hidden from the on-screen due to its often realistic and unromantic nature. When we watch movies, especially mainstream Hollywood ones, there is always a large amount of excess in both story and lifestyles. It's more “fun” to focus on the lives of rich and middle-class people where wealth possibilities are endless and the story doesn’t have to acknowledge class inequalities (which is one of the most glaring issues of American society). However, Nomadland doesn't shy away from this and gives light to a harder lifestyle that’s outside what is considered ideal: unstructured, singular, with few possessions, no white-collar career, and nomadic. Departing from what Americans have been conditioned to believe is the “right” way of life (marriage, 2.5 kids, a life-long 9 to 5, and faith in “the system”), Nomadland comes out at a great time to cover its themes of political inequality, the need for travel and freedom, and the grand uncertainty of life. Audiences get to experience pain and nostalgia without the dramatics of bourgeois life. Instead, they are given a look (not immersed though) into the simultaneous oppression and freedom in living outside the bounds of society. There is, though, an issue of representation that lingers throughout if this really is authenticity or playing poor for a faux self-awakening from the audience. The portrayal of job insecurity and poverty is framed more as an alternative lifestyle than an act of circumstance despite the recession being the main factor in the character’s life-altering change.
The incomparable Frances McDormand tells Fern’s story through a collection of images where we get to closely study her countenance and the emotions that bubble at its surface. Her hard face and reflective smiles can bring tears to your eyes since it allows for personal introspection to put on the film instead of hard-lined narrative meaning to be outwardly thrust upon viewers. She asks for patience and eventually does get it out of you when one finally gives themselves over to just experiencing rather than searching for a narrative (which admittedly is how our minds are conditioned to view films). Her chemistry with her love interest Dave is just as endearing, where they don’t get caught up in over romantic plans of star-crossed lovers. It addresses an often ignored reality among older peoples of wanting company with one another rather than needing some whirlwind romance. On the other hand, seldom do we even see older people (particularly older women) being madly in love and passionately excited for a romantic relationship. I suppose she learns to love herself and the freedom of not being tied down to anything — though she is still stuck to doing minimum wage jobs that often abuse their workers and do not provide a suitable amount to live off of.
