This documentary is now among my top 5 favorites. Give yourself a gift by watching this journey of honest inquiry and positive discovery. It is the perfect COVID-19 time gift. It brings you unexpected joy, restores some faith in your fellow Americans, awakens your better angel (who is not staying awake for one more murder mystery or decorating show), and makes you smarter about the past and today.
I found out about this gem from Chris Conner who is a former colleague (and a terrific life sciences content marketing expert specializing in audio content). The film documents a U.S. bicycle trip by 5 young Australian men. They were captivated by the book “The Grapes of Wrath” and decided that they would learn about America today by retracing the journey of that book’s main characters, a poor family that migrated from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl. Their experiences and encounters with strangers are remarkable. But “Bikes of Wrath” is much more than a buddy travel story.
The continuous connection to the book creates several layers of greatness. (Don’t worry is you did not read the book. The documentary tells you what you need to know.) Through these 5 genuinely good guys:
- You meet people whose families experienced the Dust Bowl catastrophe and who give life to the story of that time.
- You hear citizens along their travel route describe America today against the backdrop of how things were in Dust Bowl times.
You’ll also experience a genius effect they use. Every once in while, the film stops showing action. Instead, individuals the cyclists meet along the way get filmed simply reading a small excerpt of the book out loud. It is like a whole other embedded art form. You get the meaning of each excerpt in its purest form– no explanation, not buried in the full book– but it is only so powerful because of the surrounding film you are watching.
Enough. You need to watch this.
And maybe start our own journeys, discovering how people are when we are truly open to them.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
Better You Value: Great Stories **** History/Society **** Life Lessons ****
