Chorus Film Club (Week 4): Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970)

In the coal mining region of Pennsylvania, Wanda Goronski is constantly drinking to shut out the problems in her life. Having deserted her husband and infant children, Wanda sleeps on her sister's couch - when she isn't sleeping with the latest man who bought her a drink - and is unemployed with no long term job prospect. Her drinking and her life in combination have made her an emotionless woman. Her life changes when she meets Norman Dennis in a bar. She initially believes he's the bartender, but in reality he's a petty criminal who just held up the bar in question. Even after she learns Mr. Dennis' occupation and despite he treating her poorly, she willingly goes along with him and his petty crimes as a way to get through life. Mr. Dennis, on the other hand, sees her as a conduit to bigger and better things. Although things don't turn out quite the way either of the two envision, Wanda does at least begin to feel once again.

 

I probably won't be doing a re-watch of this one this week. I honestly found it fairly unremarkable. Just not really my speed, I guess.

 

Wanda (1970)

"if you dont want anything you wont have anything and if you dont have anything youre nothing."

The story of an aimless and probably deeply depressed women as she wanders through encounters after abandoning her family. The film is quite dull to sit threw; there's no music, its scarce of dialog, the pacing is slow and dreary which reflects the general depressed apathy Wanda has towards herself and life. on the surface The events of the film certainly have the potential to entertain;
she sleeps around, gets abandoned, goes to court, runs away with an abusive bank robber, participates in a bomb threat, hostage, bank robbery, then escapes rape but Wanda's already checked out and just continues to let her life unravel.

 

You can easily see this film as the female counterpart to Five Easy Pieces from the same year. Both characters are wandering loners, seeking purpose in an ever changing culture. What I think Wanda does better than Five Easy Pieces is show how difficult it is for a woman to do the same things Nicholson's character does in his film. She is never in that position to successfully navigate through her issues. While Nicholson comes off as a charming wise ass in Five Easy Pieces, Loden's character is very timid and wants to please other men because she simply does not know any other way. We might not ever know which film inspired which but the fact that they are so similar says something about that particular year in the states. It's funny, by the end of Five Easy Pieces I truly don't like the Nicholson character but it is the complete opposite with Wanda. I feel that I like her more and more as the movie goes on.