The Grapes of Wrath: The Ghost of Modern America

In April 1939, "Grapes of Wrath" entered the pantheon of literature with a bang. Americans are at loggerheads over the odyssey of the Joad family, tenant farmers from Oklahoma who, like thousands of others, were driven from their land during the Great Depression. Eighty years have passed since the famous work was published, and 90 years since the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. To mark this occasion, the documentary examines the genesis of the novel, its themes, its renewed reception during the financial crisis of 2008.

Directed by Priscilla Pizzato

Images

Cast

Denis Podalydès

Reciter (voice)

Gavin Jones

Self, professor, Stanford University

Susan Schillinglaw

Self, professor of English, San Jose State University

Marie-Christine Lemardeley

Self, professor of English literature

Pap Ndiaye

Self, historian

Delphine Coulin

Self, writer

Sharon Garrison

Self, former resident of Arvin Farm Labor Camp

Dale Gibson

Self, former resident of Arvin Farm Labor Camp

John Steinbeck

Self (archive footage)

Related

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

20196.9out of 10

Varda by Agnès

20197.8out of 10

The Untold History Of The United States

20128.2out of 10

The Soviet Story

20087.2out of 10

Shoah

19858.2out of 10

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

20137.0out of 10

Above Majestic

20187.4out of 10

Capitalism: A Love Story

20097.1out of 10

Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics

20136.8out of 10

Los Angeles Plays Itself

20047.6out of 10

9/11: Inside the President's War Room

20216.9out of 10

Red Army

20157.3out of 10

S4: The Bob Lazar Story

20268.3out of 10

Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four

20156.7out of 10

The Battered Bastards of Baseball

20147.4out of 10

To Kill a Tiger

20237.6out of 10