Nomadland

Simplicity. What is it that we need for a living? Air, water, food and sleep, correct me if I’m wrong. Still, we all live with so much more. Brand-name clothes, entertainment products, room decorations, jobs and many other things we tend to “need”. We all want what we grew up with or more. Only a few people wanna live with less.

There are over 3 million nomads in America who roam the county because they can’t or don’t want to afford a shelter and these are only the ones from the largest group. “Nomadland” takes us on a trip with one of them portrayed by Frances McDormand. There’s not much more to say about the film itself, three Oscars speak for themselves.

Nevertheless, I’d like to contemplate the simple life of nomads. There’s one scene in particular that fascinated me and keeps me thinking about it far beyond the cinema visit. In this scene, the protagonist Fern is walking by a cinema and we can see that “The Avengers” is shown inside. To me it appeared like she doesn’t know about the mightiest heroes of today’s cinema, a degree of ignorance of pop culture I would’ve only allocated to elders.

For instance, do we really need to know about these pop culture giants, daily celebrity gossip, complicated economic processes or math problems? Or do we even want to acknowledge everything that’s going on in the world? Isn’t someone not aware of the events and happenings in the world may be living a happier or at least more peaceful life?

An inspiring thought isn’t it? Anyway, we want to live a meaningful life, be successful, travel across the world, change it for the better and leave a legacy. However, I admired the nomads in “Nomadland” who chose this modest life of one’s own accord.