Cinderella Man and The Great Depression

         The movie Cinderella Man was accurate in portraying the American life in the Great Depression. A few things were over exaggerated or underemphasized to dramatize the story, but those few things didn’t take away from the overall portrayal of the hard times during the Great Depression.

         The portrayal of the Great Depression was easily seen by the hardships that Braddock faced after the stock market crashed in 1929. The stock market crash effected millions of americans after they all tried to trade their shares. The stock market crash hit Braddock especially hard because he had a lot of money invested in stocks. He then lost almost all his money very quickly and was loving on almost nothing. The movie was very accurate by showing how hard it was to find work and how desperate people became. It showed unemployment lines and people lining up to get financial aid and how depressing it was for those people. Everyone at the time was taught that it was the fault of the poor for being poor. And for men at the time, if they couldn’t provide for their families and didn’t have a job, they were very embarrassed and didn't want to ask for help. The movie showed how tough it was on Braddock to go and get financial aid and ask for money so that he could pay for electricity and get his home back. The movie was extremely accurate in showing the impact the Great Depression had on people and how desperate people became because of it.

          The movie portrayed the Great Depression even though few things were over exaggerated or underemphasized. The main point of the movie was to show the hardships and how people wanted something to hope for and feel that they had something to fight against, that it wasn’t their fault. Braddock gave them just that by showing that even though he was poor and was living on almost nothing, that he could make it out of the depths of poverty. He literally and figuratively fought his way out of poverty and gave people a hope that they could do the same. The movie director faded the jewish star on Max’s leg to keep the main point and not to let the audience feel bad for him. If he had made a big point about the jewish star on Max’s leg it would have taken away from the feeling that Braddock was the underdog and that the depression was only bad on a relative scale, not compared to what the Jews had just experienced in World War I. Something that was overemphasized was the meanness of Max to Braddock. The director of the movie thought that over exaggerating that would help add to the point of the adversity that the Great Depression brought along.

          The movie did a really good and accurate job of showing how tough life was during the Great Depression. It showed how quickly people lost everything they had and how depressing it was for those people who could’t provide for their families when they would try anything they could. In all the movie was an interesting way to explain some of the challenges people faced after the stock market crashed.