"The Plow That Broke the Plains"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the film as an historical document. It answers the question: Why should this film be as important as more traditional sources to historians trying to make sense out of America in the 1930s. It explains that documentaries can entertain, inform, and dramatize actual historic events. It states that this particular documentary is a reliable and compelling account of the Dust Bowl and its effect on families in the region and is an excellent example of a documentary that not only informs, but does so with historical accuracy.

From the Paper:

""The Plow That Broke the Plains" is a documentary film made in 1936, which recounts the story of the Dust Bowl and the massive immigration from the Central Plains when drought created one of the worst farming disasters in America's history. Thousands of farmers were displaced when their farmlands were literally blown away. The film opens with a graphic and compelling statement: "This is a record of the land, of soil, rather than people, a story of the great plains, 400,000,000 acres of windswept grass lands that spread up from the Texas panhandle to Canada--a high, treeless continent, without rivers, without streams. . . a country of high winds, and sun. . . and of little rain . . ." (Plow). This is an important and historic film because it captures such a central time in America's history, and because it shows the effect the drought had on people very visually. It is difficult to watch this film and not feel achingly sorry for the people who had to leave their homes and farms in order to survive."

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