The Grapes of Wrath: The Ghost of Modern America

Overview

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.

Keywords

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)