THE WANDERING KIND (NOMADLAND)

If you were to have picked a Best Picture Oscar winner this time last year from descriptions of the movies that ended up on the shortlist, Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' may not have immediately leapt out.

 'The Father' and 'Sound of Metal' had all the ingredients of movies that tend to appeal to Academy voters, with their principal characters battling affliction.

'The Trial of the Chicago Seven' and 'Mank' oozed the kind of starry casts and plots that are Oscar bait.

'Promising Young Woman' felt like an edgy choice that could upset the odds, while 'Minari' and 'Judas and the Black Messiah' had that underdog tag that carried 'Moonlight' and 'Parasite' to glory.

'Nomadland' broke away from the pack, however, at the Golden Globes and never really relinquished its lead,  scooping three Academy Awards last week for Best Picture, Director and Actress.

It's not that hard to understand why it went onto triumph at the Oscars because Chloe Zhao's drama is a film of great beauty.

Based on the journalist Jessica Bruder's 2017 non-fiction book 'Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,' audiences will immediately see parallels with John Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer Prize winning novel 'The Grapes of Wrath' and the excellent 1940 John Ford movie adaptation it inspired.

However its stunning images of the US landscape also trigger memories of the vistas captured in Dennis Hopper's 'Easy Rider,' Terence Malik's 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven' and Wim Wenders' haunting 'Paris, Texas'.

Frances McDormand plays Fern, a widow who has lost her job in a Gypsum plant after it closes in Empire, Nevada.

Forced to leave her home, she initially finds work in an Amazon warehouse and starts to live in a van after selling a lot of her possessions.

Living in a RV park in the bitter cold, she is persuaded by Linda May's Linda to eke out a life on the road, grabbing whatever work she can find and joining her and other nomads in the much warmer climate of Arizona.

There she encounters Bob Wells, a real life vandweller, who offers a support network for those who like to roam the US.

Along with Linda, David Strathairn's David and Charlene Swankie's Swankie, Fern is schooled about life on the road.

The vandweller movement dates back to the 19th Century but it has enjoyed something of a resurgence in the US following the 2007 financial crash.

Some older Americans have turned their backs on settling into traditional retirement and have opted instead for adventure on the road.

At first in Zhao's film, Fern enjoys the company of the vandwellers and the freedom of the road.

But when they move on, she opts to stay in Arizona with only Swankie for company.

A burst tyre sees her develop a close friendship with Swankie despite the older woman chastising her for not having a spare or being properly prepared for the rigours of nomadic life.

Eventually, Fern moves on to South Dakota's Badlands National Park where she gets a job cleaning the facilities used by travellers alongside Linda.

She also crosses paths with David again.

When David takes ill and is hospitalised, he persuades her to take a job in a South Dakota restaurant.

But with David developing feelings for her and her van struggling to stay on the road, is Fern open to settling down once more?

Written, directed and superbly edited by Zhao, 'Nomadland' is very much a neo realist movie about people who have opted to be on the margins of society and not to play the game of conforming to traditional notions of retirement.

At one point, Wells tells the vandwellers in Arizona that having been treated as workhorses for much of their lives, they are boldly striking out for their own freedom by refusing to be put out to pasture during retirement.

Some of the film's most poignant moments come from the lips of real life vandwellers - particularly when they recount their own experiences in conversations at dawn, dusk and around the campfire.

Like all great neo realists, Zhao uses professional actors to draw audiences into her story but relies on real life vandwellers to provide its authenticity.

Wells, May and Swankie are great finds and deliver affecting, natural performances.

However 'Nomadland' is very much McDormand's film and she anchors it with a performance of great subtlety, intelligence and grace.

Great actors can often say a lot about their characters with facial expressions band without uttering a lot of words.

That is certainly true of McDormand's compelling performance.

The triple Oscar winner is no stranger to neo realism having worked alongside professional and amateur actors before in Northern Ireland on Ken Loach's 1990 Troubles thriller 'Hidden Agenda'.

She delivers a lived in performance as Fern, gelling well with May, Swankie, Wells and others vandwellers in the cast.

Zhao's lead also does an impressive job portraying a loner, wrestling with loss.

Images of Fern wandering around vast, rugged landscapes only augment the sense of just how distanced she has become from society.

But that sense of alienation and loneliness is equally true in those moments where Fern is catapulted into a suburban setting as in a barbecue at her sister's house in California.

Like Harry Dean Stanton's Travis in 'Paris, Texas,' McDormand often wears a haunted and wounded look on her face as the scale of her grief for the loss of her husband, her job and her house becomes clear.

It really is an Oscar worthy performance - skilfully drawing the audience into Zhao's absorbing story.

Strathairn is also excellent, it has to be said.

In fact, he is so good you are left wondering why he got overlooked in the Best Supporting Actor race in most of this year's awards.

You will also be hard pressed to find cinematography this year that can rival Joshua James Richards' gorgeous images.

The images he captures demand to be seen on the biggest screen possible, so you can properly drink in the breathtaking beauty of the rugged plains of Nevada, South Dakota, California and Arizona. 

It seems amazing that while his work captured National Society of Film Critics, Critics Choice, BAFTA and Independent Spirit awards, Richards was overlooked by Golden Globe and Oscar voters.

Ludovico Einaudi also provides a memorable score, heightening the air of melancholy and beauty in Zhao's film.

The director, her cast and crew lived among the vandwellers for four months while making 'Nomadland'.

Her next project, however, will be a radical departure from this low budget style of indie filmmaking.

As she made 'Nomadland,' Zhao flitted from the locations of her shoot to work on pre-production for the Marvel superhero adventure 'Eternals' with Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and Barry Keoghan.

'Nomadland' will probably not reach the audience her Marvel superhero adventure will draw but it demands to be seen on the largest screen possible by as many people as possible.

It will be especially treasured by those who adore cinema as an artform.

With multiplexes and arthouse picture palaces starting to reopen in May in some countries after months of lockdown, Zhao's film is tailor made for their return.

Those who aren't lucky enough to have a projector and soundbar at home should flock to see 'Nomadland' in film theatres when they reopen.

Those who have should also flock to it  just to m experience watching Zhao's film in all its glory in the company of others.

After months of watching movies on TV, laptop and tablet screens, they deserve to be mesmerised by the magic of this wonderful film.

('Nomadland' captured the Golden Lion after receiving its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 11, 2020 and was released on the Disney+ streaming service in the UK and Ireland on April 30, 2021)

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