“Cain rose up against his brother Abel and slew him. And Cain went away, and dwelt in the land of Nod only east of Eden.” When this line is uttered and that Biblical parallel drawn most openly in the last ten minutes of Elia Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s ubiquitous novel, its intention is one of ill-will -the sheriff comparing a young man to one of the famous early villains in the Bible, encouraging him to step out of the life of his family and community for good. But what this movie does, and was likely the intent of Steinbeck, is make this descendant of Cain the sympathetic figure in this story, at worst an anti-hero unfairly sidelined and stigmatized. Cain is supposed to be the ancestor of mankind, his violence, jealousy, and rage an explanation for humanity’s -the implicit theory of the story that we would have been a better, more virtuous race descended from Abel. But supposing that we’re not, it is even more necessary to find understanding with Cain, and interrogate the ...
Criticism, Essays, and Ramblings from Another Online Film Critic. Support me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/JordanBosch, follow me on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/jordanbosch.bsky.social and jbosch on Letterboxd