Frances McDormand stars in Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland”, an immersive cinematic experience. Photo: SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

A wondrous thing happened to me before a hellish 2020, finally ended. I was once more able to see a new movie in a cinema. Wild, right?

It was one of the best things I was able to do all year. Even better was that it was one of the best movies, not only of 2020, but that I’ve ever seen.

I went into the film knowing almost nothing about it. I knew it was directed by Chloé Zhao, with who’s oeuvre I’m not familiar (but will be after writing this), and that Frances McDormand produced and starred in it. I purposely avoided all reviews and trailers, not wanting to overhype it and let myself down if it didn’t match up to my expectations. But boy, did it deliver.

“Nomadland” follows Fern (McDormand), a woman in her 60s who loses her job and husband in 2011 after the US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada shuts down, and takes the town with it.

And thus Fern embarks on the life of the modern day American pioneer, or nomad. She joins a large group of nomads, most of whom are older and beyond retirement age (or what we used to think was retirement age) in doing a wide array of physically demanding jobs for presumably very little pay, in order to sustain a life out on the road and their own personal freedoms.

At one point, Fern says: “I’m not homeless, just houseless.” To these nomads, their homes, lives, personal freedoms, their livelihoods, are those vans. This is again highlighted when another character says: “Being a nomad is a choice, not a circumstance.”

Which, to an extent, must be true for some of them. However, is it really a choice? Is it really a choice when your choice is to live off meagre social security benefits that won’t pay your mortgage so you must choose between a house you’ve been living in for many years or necessities such as food?

It must be noted the film is based on the non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century”, by Jessica Bruder. It also stars some real-life nomads in Linda May, Charlene Swankie and Bob Wells, all of whom have significant roles to play in Fern’s journey.

Although being a nomad is a choice to some, I question whether it’s not fuelled by the socio-economic circumstances facing older people in the US after the GFC in 2008.

We see the way this system has failed Fern. We hear the ways it has failed other nomads. The film may not be a searing indictment of a grossly exploitative capitalist system fuelled by e-commerce giants such as Amazon, whose success is predicated on exploiting its workers.

However, one must question how well a system operates when people who have worked all their lives are forced to take short contract jobs, the returns so meagre they’re forced into a subsistence existence where one thing, like a flat tyre or a car part that needs replacing can force them into extreme debt, or worse.

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“Nomadland”, above all, is a character study. Fern is a woman who symbolises a generation that’s been raised on the expectations of four walls, a white picket fence and significant retirement funds in an age where there’s been a global financial crisis so massive it has rendered that dream virtually impossible for future generations.

Fern feels like a character derived from the very American “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” rugged individualism that compels her to drive thousands upon thousands of kilometres to see the Old West and work her way through it.

Fern would not feel like a complete character without Frances McDormand’s performance. It’s such a lived in and raw portrayal, quite different from her best-known roles in “Fargo” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”.

So much of Fern’s inner character is revealed throughout the film just through the shots where she’s listening to others, not delivering any dialogue, just listening. It’s a feat that so much of a character who is so incredibly internal is revealed through these shots.

No weighty, melodramatic dialogue is required to extrapolate what Fern is feeling, what kind of person she is and how she feels about her circumstances regarding her loss of identity along with the town of Empire and her husband. It’s truly astonishing work from McDormand.

The real-life nomads in Linda, Swankie and Bob are also joys to watch on film. I’m normally against the whole concept of casting non-actors in films as versions of themselves, because normally it feels quite contrived and it doesn’t work. (see “The 15:17 to Paris”, which was awful).

If the awards circuit wasn’t the huge marketing machine it is, Swankie would be in serious contention for Best Supporting Actress. A true supporting role that made a massive impact. David Strathairn, one of the few professional actors in the cast, is also very good, but his interactions with McDormand’s character do not ring as true as the ones she has with the real-life nomads.

“Nomadland”, despite its relatively small scale, never stalls. Nothing lingers too long. The editing, also done by Zhao, is quite fast-paced and never stagnates, reflecting Fern’s innate restlessness and inability to get too comfortable with too many people or stay too long in one place.

The cinematography and production design by Joshua James Richards is outstanding. The way Richards has captured the Western landscape and Fern within it, he’s created another character, and it’s McDormand’s best scene partner.

The amount of stunning vistas captured by Richards is astonishing and the way he employs them with Zhao to depict the passing of time, the changing of seasons and how Fern’s entire life is her van is truly beautiful.

There are shots that are evocative of Howard Hawks and John Ford, reminding you that “Nomadland” is another great American story. Whether it’s a story of rugged individualism, escape or the damage done to the underclasses by major monoliths of industry is up to the viewer.

Now, if I could get a consistent answer for you on where and when to see “Nomadland”, I would. But it seems it is currently only in limited release and will go wide on 4 March. However, some cinemas are giving me February dates, some March, some are listing showings as of right now.

But I would urge you, whenever you are able, to catch “Nomadland” on a cinema screen as big as you can access, because it is truly an immersive cinematic experience.

Nomadland (2020) dir. Chloé Zhao. Starring: Frances McDormand.