The Land

Produced: 1930s

Length: 42 Minutes

This is the story of how rural America used machines to achieve an unbelievable production – but at a terrible cost to land and to people through the waste of erosion and poverty. This is the story of the beginnings of reconstruction, and the hope of a world of freedom and abundance through the workings of a democracy and through mans mastery of his own machines. This heart-wrenching documentary tells of the destruction, erosion, and loss of arable soil that led to the ensuing poverty and the dust bowl migration of the 1930s. The film begins with the following exert, the strength that is America comes from the land. Our mighty war effort is the product of land and people. Land: our soil, our minerals, our forests, our water power. People: their skills their inventiveness their resourcefulness, their education, their health. Land and people, in war or in peace, this our national wealth. The Land, focuses on the dire conditions that many of the farming families endured, with scenes of poverty that can only be described as appalling and desperate, included unconscionable footage of completely helpless children living in the worst of conditions and suffering from a variety of diseases as a result of malnutrition. Note: This film suffers mildly from flicker.