To the surprise of many filmgoers, the runaway hit of last season was Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland. A subtle, poignant film about Fern, a woman who, after losing her life savings during the 2008 recession, begins to live in a van, traveling across western America and living life as a nomad. The film stars Frances McDormand as Fern, and has a supporting cast made up of many real nomads who inspired the book the film is based on. After premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September of last year, it went on to win many prestigious accolades, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture-Drama, and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Zhao was commended for her directing, and McDormand for her acting, with both winning Academy Awards for their contributions to the film. The film resonated with many audiences due to its slow pace and beautiful imagery. While the film doesn’t have much of a main story structure, the audience is drawn into a character and her lifestyle, which leads them on an emotional journey of self-realization. While the film received such wide-spread acclaim, this wasn’t without some backlash. While some praised the film for its authenticity, others claimed that it idealized the conditions of Amazon warehouses, where many of the characters find short-term work.
In the film, Fern travels around the American West, taking temporary jobs in the deserts of Nevada, North Dakota, and other states. One of the film’s more memorable moments comes from a scene during Christmas time, where Fern and other nomads participate in the Amazon’s annual CamperForce program. This program, usually occurring around the Holidays, allows for individuals to camp RVs outside of warehouses and make extra money in preparation for the holiday season. The program accommodates RVs and pays workers a $15 minimum wage. The film portrays this program as one that is beneficial to Fern and her friends, a message that goes against the main point the film should be trying to make. As the film is about a woman being displaced from her surroundings because of the failures of our capitalistic system, this moment goes against the idea that megacorporations like Amazon exploit their workers and force them into dire financial conditions, conditions that led the nomads in this film to take on the life they have.
This film comes out at a moment where we have begun to see workers reckon with such conditions, with the most significant example being the recent attempt of workers in a Bessimer, Alabama Amazon warehouse to unionize. Reports from inside warehouses have shown despicable conditions, with some workers forced to go to the bathroom in bottles due to the strenuousness of their tasks. It is well known that capitalism disregards the conditions of workers for the sake of efficiency and profit. Instead of furthering the point of the economic instability these nomads face due to our capitalist system, the film paints companies like Amazon in a positive light, implying companies like Amazon provide a way for workers to improve their conditions, instead of showing how they force workers into such conditions.
In the process of making the film, McDormand (who also served as a producer), wrote a letter to Amazon’s senior VP of business and corporate development, Jeff Blackburn, asking him if they could use one of the fulfillment centers that participated in the CamperForce program for the film. In the letter, McDormand explains the appeal of such a program saying, “We are telling a story about a person who is benefiting from hard work, and working at the Amazon fulfillment center is hard work, but it pays a wage.” While the program can be beneficial to those who need to make a profit, while also gaining some provisions during the Holiday season, it is important to realize that many of the people who are benefitting from the CamperForce program are those being displaced due to the inability to make a living wage from mega-corporations like Amazon.
Nomadland is by no means a bad film. It is delicately crafted, telling a poignant story in a visually stunning manner. It is important, however, to recognize the perspective that this story is being told from. Zhao and McDormand do a terrific job showcasing the lives that these nomads live, but at the same time, fail to fully address the cause of such conditions, pandering to companies like Amazon, instead of criticizing them. Zhao and McDormand are artists, and they will not be able to fully understand the conditions that the people in the film endure. Their role is to portray those people and their situation in a way that the audience will recognize. But isn’t it the duty of the artist to find the truth and portray such truth? If Nomadland shies away from the big questions about the role corporations play in affecting the lives of these nomads, where does one draw the line between art and propaganda?