The Impression of The Grapes of Wrath 100-200 words求读后感,字数在100到200,时间紧,没有时间看完这本书

The Impression of The Grapes of Wrath 100-200 words求读后感,字数在100到200,时间紧,没有时间看完这本书
The Impression of The Grapes of Wrath 100-200 words
求读后感,字数在100到200,时间紧,没有时间看完这本书

The Impression of The Grapes of Wrath 100-200 words求读后感,字数在100到200,时间紧,没有时间看完这本书
The Grapes of Wrath was also my weekly Netflix rental. I read the book it's based on by John Steinbeck, oh, maybe ten or so years ago. I think I was in college, and I think it was during the summer of working for the Conference Management Services department at the University of Michigan, which, at the time anyway, ran the dormitories like hotels during the summer. It was a boring job, and a second job, and I had quite a bit of time to read, but it was a great summer after a lousy semester, and I had a job that wasn't too difficult and allowed me to read. I digress. I remember liking the book quite a bit, but I don't remember any details, because, well, it's been awhile. What I do remember, watching this film, leads me to believe that the film is only sort of like the book but not really. Maybe someone can comment with their agreement or disagreement with that assessment, but that's the vague impression I get.
In the film, Tom Joad (a young, dashing, and star-making Henry Fonda) returns to his home, the Oklahoma farm his family once owned, after being freed from prison on parole. It seems he was jailed for killing a man, apparently in self-defense, which figures importantly into the kind of man he's become. He discovers, when he arrives, that the Great Depression has setlled in; his family, including his mother (Jane Darwell), has hunkered down at his uncle's home with intentions on relocating to California on the promise of jobs (passed around on a ubiquitous leaflet) and under duress, as banks and landowners have usurped the Oklahoman countryside and bulldozed the settlements. The journey is long and hard, meeting with family tragedies, not to mention that when work is found, it's often at lower-than-fair wages and in supplication to cops who patrol Hoovervilles and shantytowns with mob mentalities and corporal punishment on the brain. Tom can't seem to stay out of trouble, but his heart gets in the way, and he gets entangled in various altercations, fighting for justice and fairness, that jeopardize his family's quest for survival.
I didn't love this film. I seem to remember, perhaps obviously, that the book had more to it, from beginning to end. I don't want to spoil the film, but it seems that there was a larger insurrection either spearheaded or helped along by Tom in the book that wasn't in the film. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed his moving final speech, as quoted in the synopsis, was followed by a more physical struggle in the book, something concrete or tangible to give meaning to Tom's best-intentioned ideals as he leaves his family behind in order to distract the law's watchful eyes from them. I felt that, in some ways, the film was incomplete, even despite Ma Joad's eloquent monologue about survival and continuing on in life. The adaptation was very good, but it was definitely not perfect.
It indicates at the bottom of this page that the film is superior to the novel, an opinion allegedly posited by Steinbeck himself. I'm left wondering why.
That's not to say that this wasn't a very good film. It was engaging and evenly paced, and John Ford accentuated aspects of the novel that made everything more film-friendly, including focusing more on the family and the effects of the times on the family. The synopsis by the All Movie Guide at the bottom of this page suggests that the Grapes of Wrath is arguably Ford's greatest film; I think that his greatest movie is more likely The Searchers, but that's just my opinion. Still, this film painted a searing and moving portrait of the conditions created by the Great Depression.
And really, that portrait was made all the more convincing by the performances of this great ensemble cast. The most charismatic and engaging performance belonged to Henry Fonda, who was, without a doubt, a legend in the making after The Grapes of Wrath. He wore Tom Joad easily, like a comfortable jacket, and created a complete suspension of disbelief. Plus, the relationship between him and his mother proved to be the heart, if not the soul, of the film, and Jane Darwell's Oscar was deservedly earned. Do you know that she was Dolly Merriwether in Gone with the Wind and the Bird Woman in Mary Poppins? Ma Joad's touching need for connection with her affected son, emphasized through a combination of sweetness and toughness as portrayed by Darwell, is equally endearing and heartbreaking.
As for filmmaking technique, I didn't notice anything particularly superior, groundbreaking, or noteworthy other than the use of natural scenery and light to paint contrasts between the dusty, poverty-stricken Oklahoma countryside and the sunny and lush California valleys. I think the reason why this film is considered an AFI classic is because of the vision of the director in painting an uncompromised and pointed picture of the effects of the Depression, and because Steinbeck's novel itself is considered a bona fide American classic. The themes of both film and novel cling to ideals that were immortalized on parchments that laid the foundation for our country: the pursuits of life, liberty, happiness, property...in short, striving for a piece of the American Dream, with the American family at its core.
The novel is great, and the film is good, but it wasn't something I fell in love with. If recollection serves me, I think I actually liked the book better; I think it communicated the perserverance and courage and survivalist tendencies of the American people in face of all obstacles, including capitalist hypocrisy, more effectively. But who am I to argue with Steinbeck, who liked the film version better than his own written work? I think we need an annotation on that claim. I think The Grapes of Wrath deserves an 8.5 rating, between minor flaws and perfectly entertaining, mainly for the minorest of flaws that I see in the book-to-film adaptation. Also, let's face it, a book or film about the Depression is bound to be, well, depressing, even if it's also supposed to be inspiring at the same time - though #7 inspiring? Really? I'll have to think on that.
As for the test, it's not a pass. I can't see myself pulling this film out again; if anything, I think the book deserves another read. That is, if I could ever find the time or gumption to read again - there are so many more films to watch!