There is something extremely enticing about becoming a wanderer-nomad; the wide-open road, the independence and lack of responsibilities make us all yearn to pack everything up in a van and just go. This life for the characters of “Nomadland” may be enviable, but it is not perfect.
Two-time Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand plays Fern, a widow who abandons everything and becomes a nomad after the death of her husband. This story is based on the true stories of real nomads in the United States. When the town of Empire, Nevada, lost the business of the United States Gypsum Corporation, half the town lost their jobs and the town had its ZIP code officially revoked. Based on this real ghost town, Fern is forced to wander to find a new home.
We not only see the effects of corporations on the American landscape, but we also have a deep character study of a person desperately in need of a home. Fern cannot find this home in any one place, but she can find it in the entire landscape of the Midwest. Shots of the rocky terrain and lush green mountains punctuate stretches of what some would consider trashy areas where people get by in their run-down vans and RVs.
We also get a close look at the culture surrounding the American nomads. Their camps are filled to the brim with people that have experienced loss, but few of them are truly suffering from it. They lean on each other in a way we don’t see outside of traditional families; this closeness is something both contrary to and emblematic of the American spirit.
The character Swankie, played by a real nomad, embodies the longing aspects of the wanderer. Diagnosed with cancer, she decides to live her last days on the road rather than succumbing to her illness in a hospital. The camp of nomads grieves their loss, not by saying goodbye, but by saying they’ll see her “down the road.”
“There’s no final goodbye,” one of the characters says. “I always just say, ‘I’ll see you down the road.’”
“Nomadland” gives us an opportunity to reflect on our true values. Some of us may criticize the cynicism of our time and blame it on the oversaturation of media or the commodification of people themselves, but these nomads remind us that we can transcend this cynicism in favor of something truly good.
