I can see why this movie won 3 Academy Awards but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.

Nomadland follows a woman called Fern who has lost everything in the great recession and decides to live in a van and travel the American West as a Nomad.

In this movie we see her make friends, lose friends, live basically on nothing, and go from job to job just trying to make a living to be able to keep the van going. It’s an interesting look at life in a way that doesn’t take into fact capitalism and materialistic things.

It’s quite eye-opening because I feel as a society we put so much emphasis on materialistic things and always wanting the next best thing and having the biggest houses and the best friends and the expensive luxuries and yet in this film there is none of that at all. Fern has her van, people will come and go from her life through whatever reason, she’ll move from place to place never really settling, and yet she seems quite free and happy.

This movie is basically just following her life as a newly found Nomad and while she has the option to have a house to have a place to stay she never really wants to do it. I feel once you’re in that mindset of living on the line of being able to feed yourself and put fuel in your van but not having to worry about materialistic things and bills then it’s hard to break out of that lifestyle.

It was a good movie but I didn’t enjoy it as much as maybe I expected to. It’s a good film that gives you a different look at your life and how the things that you prioritise in your life possibly don’t deserve to be prioritised, and the things that are left on the back burner should be put more to the forefront.

Who cares about having the newest bag when you could spend that money having dinner with your family? Who cares about having the biggest house when you don’t have anyone to live in it with you? Who cares about the materialistic things when they won’t remember you when you die? Really life is about the people and the memories you have, while Fern is literally just scraping by at least she has people around her and at least she has a life that she can handle rather than a life of always trying to be better or always trying to keep up with the people around you.

I feel if you like the sort of follow along movies, the movies that don’t really have much point or purpose but show you a glimpse into someone else’s way of life then I think you’d enjoy this, because it was quite interesting and it did make me contemplate what it must be like because I could never imagine living on the road or living without knowing what could happen the next day, but it’s still a fantastic and fascinating concept.

What do you think of Nomadland?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding