Nomadland
Credit: Handout/HFPA via Getty Images

It was Zoom chaos at the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Yes, while we tried to get excited by the waist-up glimpses of gowns in celebrity hotel rooms, the half-virtual ceremony was rather underwhelming to watch. It was also marred by scrutiny as a recent report revealed none of the 87 Hollywood Foreign Press Association members – the body responsible for choosing nominations and winners – is Black.

But come time to announce Best Director and Best Motion Picture and few could argue that director Chloé Zhao and her intimate film Nomadland were each and every part deserving. The film follows Fern (played ever so powerfully by Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’s Frances McDormand), a 50- or 60-something-year-old woman who has lost her husband and has joined other elder Americans for a life traveling about inside a mobile home.

Nomadland
Credit: Disney

Most of the characters Fern comes across never imagined their lives would be so displaced – one woman tells Fern she retired with $550 in her social security account, while another was a Vietnam Vet who couldn’t handle the loud noises and the big crowds of the everyday. And thus these people turn to living in their vans and working shift work where they can to pay for food and gas. The expansive portrait of these groups of nomads and their quality of life on the road is incredibly moving and eye-opening. Ultimately at the heart of it, it’s a story about compassion for other people, something of which we could all do with an extra dose.

Nomadland at its core for me is a pilgrimage through grief and healing,” said Zhao, accepting the awards from her living room with a WiFi connection that was very much stable. “So for everyone who has gone through this difficult journey at some point in their lives, this is for you.”

We don’t say goodbye, we say, ‘See you down the road.’”

Nomadland
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 11: (L-R )Frances McDormand, Chloé Zhao, Swankie, and Linda May attend the Drive-In Premiere of “Nomadland” hosted by Fox Searchlight and The Telluride Film Festival at Rose Bowl on September 11, 2020 in Pasadena, California. Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent and second woman ever to win the best director award in the Golden Globes’ 78-year history. Zhao and Nomadland are now favorites to win the Oscar in April.

Congratulations to Zhao and the cast and crew of Nomadland.

Nomadland is in selected cinemas now.