Moving Pictures
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Instead of using actors to dramatize the source material, the movie adaptation of Nomadland brings in the real people depicted in Jessica Bruder's book to play themselves. Frances McDormand won a Best Actress Academy Award for playing Fern – one of the few fictional characters created for the film. Through her, the audience spends time with folks like Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells – nomadic van/camper dwellers whose histories, perspectives, and spirit were endearingly rendered in the book.
In less capable hands it could come off as gimmicky, but writer/director Chloe Zhao draws emotionally stirring performances from the non-actors while portraying the dignity of the nomad community as a whole. That, along with spectacular scenes of the natural environment and so many other factors, contribute to the way this fictional movie seems meaningfully real.
Visit our Adult Services Librarian John's list of movies and music that relate to Nomadland here.
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