Nomadland wins Academy Award for Best Picture - Oscars 2021

Oscar-winning movie Nomadland starring Frances McDormand puts the focus on the travelling life

The travelling motorhome life is very much back in the news this week after Nomadland, a film about woman who loses everything and embarks on a life on the road, won three major awards at this year’s Oscars.

The film, which premieres in the UK on Star in Disney Plus this Friday, won best film, best director and best actress for its lead star, Frances McDormand at the 93rd Academy Awards.

She plays a woman who loses everything in the financial crash of 2008 and ends up rediscovering herself travelling the USA in a camper van.

Many critics have commented on how the film, directed by Chloe Zhao, often puts a positive spin on such a situation. The McDormand character describes herself as “houseless”, not “homeless”, and another character says that one of the advantages of joining such a community is that you never have to say final goodbyes.

In her acceptance speech, delivered to a ceremony that was scaled down because of Covid, Zhao thanked real-life nomads “for teaching us the power of resilience and hope”.

The film, which premieres in the UK on Star in Disney Plus this Friday, won best film, best director and best actress for its lead star, Frances McDormand at the 93rd Academy Awards.

PeterBaber

Peter Baber is Reviews Editor of both Practical Motorhome and Practical Caravan. He has been reviewing motorhomes for the best part of a decade now. His first caravan reviews date back to the early 1990s when he first worked on Practical Caravan, before he embarked on a 20-year career in business journalism which saw him edit a wide variety of magazines, and launch a few too, including one that won an award. Although he enjoyed that, he always knew he wanted to come back. Peter reports on all the new models that make it to dealer forecourts each season, giving his judgement online and in magazine reviews. He has twice been shortlisted for a Caravan Writers Guild award. When he is not working, apart from going on motorhome trips himself (mostly local to where he lives in West Yorkshire, but also last year right across France) he likes trying to write novels, cooking, throwing the odd pot, and has just taken up tennis.