The Bikes of Wrath
Want to suffer like Steinbeck? Five Australians dive deep into the heart of America.
“The Bikes of Wrath” feature film showed publicly for the first time this past April at Five Point Adventure Film Festival in Carbondale, Colorado. The movie follows five Australians as they attempt to cycle 30 days for 1,600 miles from Sallisaw, Oklahoma, to Bakersfield, California, retracing the route taken by the Joad family – characters in the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath. The Aussies set out on their trip with just $420 (the modern-day equivalent of the Joad’s $18 in the 1930s).
Five Australians attempt to cycle 2600kms from Oklahoma to California in honour of the westward migration undertaken by ‘The Grapes of Wrath’s’ Joad family. Through chance encounters with everyday Americans, the cyclists expand on the novel’s core themes of migration, inequality and the perceived land of opportunity. The group explores whether America has progressed since the book was written, discussing the wealth gap, immigration and the American Dream. The fascinating people they meet along the way reveal the enduring strength of human spirit despite the inequality and disenfranchisement which runs as deep today, as it did in Steinbeck’s seminal novel. The Bikes of Wrath is a unique, funny and insightful documentary filled with adventure, literature, music, and human connection.
