Running Time = 1 hr 46 min
Rating = 4/5 stars
Don’t frack with people. That’s the big idea in director Gus Van Sant’s quiet and timely new film, “Promised Land”, based on a story by one of the best storytellers of our time, Dave Eggers. Bursting with new confidence from a new job promotion working for a powerful, multi-national natural gas corporation, Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and his cohort in crime, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand) land in a small, economically depressed rural town, determined to convince the inhabitants that the discovery of vast reserves of natural gas there, miles below the earth, would be the town’s salvation. All that would be required is for the kindly townsfolk to sign away certain property rights. But the duo’s plan soon faces a couple of major setbacks. At a town hall meeting, a local science teacher (Hal Holbrook) speaks up, demonstrating an unexpected knowledge about the harmful effects of the drilling practice known as “fracking.” Then, it’s all-out war when an ornery environmentalist (John Krasinski) comes on the scene with the sole purpose of thwarting the gas corporation’s airy promises of milk and honey.
As I watched Damon and McDormand, I was reminded why
Hollywood needs such rare actors as these: they’re ordinary, true to life. While perhaps lacking the chameleon-like ability of a Philip Seymour Hoffman, Damon is an everyman who earns an audience’s sympathy with little effort, regardless of whether he’s playing ass-kicking Jason Bourne, the twisted Byronic hero of “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, or in this case, the face of an evil corporation. McDormand’s entire career hinges on her familiar penchant for quirky, no nonsense types, and a fresh lack of plastic surgery. Together, the two share a brilliantly natural and friendly onscreen chemistry which gives the film many brief stabs of humor.
Some people find it off-putting when movies take a stance on current events. “Promised Land” is just such an example, commenting on the relevant topics of fracking and the duplicitous aid of big business vis-à-vis the needs of hurting communities – particularly farming ones. But the commentary runs much deeper. Throughout the film there is a moral undercurrent which raises questions not only about right and wrong, but also about the intrinsic worth of things. We suffer, but what are we willing to give to ease the suffering? How do we take care of that which has been entrusted to us? Is selling out for money essentially the fracking of a life? Money is no compensation for the more meaningful heart of a livelihood or homestead – even humble ones. In one scene, a man convinced by Steve Butler of forthcoming riches, drives up to the town bar in a flashy new silver Corvette. Butler is taken aback at the profane display, but realizes that he is, in part, responsible for the small ruination.
“Promised Land” doesn’t promise more than a simple story, true to life, sensitively directed and
well acted. There’s nothing ground breaking about it (pardon the pun), and while there is a plot twist toward the end which didn’t entirely come as a surprise, I applaud the humility of the film with its indie feel, and its redemptive themes, which are rare indeed. Perhaps it hints at the Biblical promised land after which the film’s title was inspired, which has nothing to do with wealth, but everything to do with what we live for.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.movieweb.com/movie/promised-land-2012
http://www.facebook.com/PromisedLandMovie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2091473
