This all started as a non-fiction book about modern day nomads. The most well-known of those nomads, Bob, is the author who started it all.
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In "Nomadland," Jessica Bruder experienced the life of the people she wrote about, the seniors who travel the American West, stopping to work along the way. Frances McDormand plays a woman named "Fern" whose circumstances take a dramatic turn, and she takes a chance at life as a nomad.
"In a way that she is a docent. She is a tour guide," said Bruder. "And the only reason I'm in the book, because I would usually rather stay the heck out of the frame, is to really serve that role. So when I see how much she can do in silence and how much she can do as a guide that, to me, feels very familiar."
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Bob Wells, a leader in this community, doesn't personally need the money, but he's one of several real-life nomads who got paid the union rate to basically play themselves in the film.
"It was a joy. People all came for the joy of the experience," said Wells. "People are more hungry for a true quality of life, not just survival, a higher quality of life. And so when they see a real valid alternative, they're willing to take it."
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Wells says there is real bonding among the members of this community.
"I call them bungee cord relationships," said Wells. "So I'll meet someone. I know I'm going to spend a day, an hour, a week and then I may not see them again for a year. But in that brief period of time, we've established this bungee cord bond, an invisible bungee cord. And it goes for thousands of miles and maybe years at a time but we're coming back together. And it'll be just like we never left."
"Nomadland" is available now on Hulu.
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