The Great Depression is seen as one of the most painful and desolate periods in United States history. This time it was the longest recession this nation has ever seen. It lasted from 1929 to 1939, over ten years of complete confusion and despondency among the people. Many Americans were greatly affected by this tragic moment and sacrificed much of their lives so that they and their families could have a chance to live. This act of desperation can be seen throughout the film, The Cinderella Man, where a professional boxer, Jim Braddock, becomes crippled by depression, both financially and spiritually. The viewer can see this through the film's explicit cinematography and the director's depiction of the Great Depression. However, the director left out a key aspect of the events of the Depression, the collapse of the stock market. Perhaps this catastrophic event was irrelevant to the plot and message of the film, but it is important to the current Great Depression in the United States. Furthermore, the nation of 2010 is on track to repeat history. There are frightening similarities between that terrible period of the 1930s and the present that should not be overlooked, or the United States may once again condemn itself to the horrible state it has tried so long to avoid. The stock market crash of 1929 is the main event. this led to the collapse of the nation's stability and ultimately paved the way for the Great Depression. The collapse was caused by a wide range of causes that varied throughout the prosperous periods of the 1920s. There were consumers buying on margin, too much trust in business and government, and most believed there were big booms in the stock market. Because of all this… half the paper… gas and with the rising price of oil, more money is being taken away from the people. It is clear that, even though we are entering a recession on different terms than the previous one, the United States is still in danger of once again becoming the victim of another Great Depression. The Great Depression is a period in the history of the United States from which people learned and gained knowledge. Its hard times and conflicts have been described in books, seen in films, spoken about on the radio and told to families from generation to generation. Seeing what life was like in the 1930s in the movie The Cinderella Man, opened my eyes to how the people of this time truly survived and maintained their true humanity in times of chaos. The period of the 1930s should be an inspiration to the nation and cause many to do well and live intelligent and prosperous lives.