Every movie, if it’s any good, has some kind of message. Often, the message is fairly subtle subtext, hidden within the primary purpose of entertaining the audience. Sometimes the message is overt, where there is no question what the movie is trying to say. Promised Land (available on DVD and Blu-ray at VPL), is of the second variety.
Matt Damon plays a corporate salesman who, along with his partner, played by Frances McDormand, seeks to buy land leases from the property owners of the economically depressed farming town of McKinley. They are doing this on behalf of Global Crosspower Solutions, a multi-billion dollar natural gas company. At the town hall meeting, meant to be an announcement more than a sales pitch, they encounter unexpected resistance led by a retired engineer and school teacher, played by the venerable 88 year-old Hal Holbrook. He points out that the process of retrieving the natural gas, known as fracking, is not without risks to the people and the environment. So, what was expected to be a two or three day cakewalk for the company, becomes a three-week slog leading to a vote by the entire town.
The opponents of the gas company are bolstered by the arrival of an engaging young environmentalist, played by John Krasinski, from a previously unknown group called Athena. It soon becomes an all out war for the hearts and minds of the townspeople, and it looks like Global just might lose.
As I said at the beginning, the message of Promised Land is clear: multi-billion dollar corporations are ready and willing to exploit people in difficult financial straits, with little regard to their long term well-being or that of the environment, and will resort to any kind of manipulation in order to get their way. The writers and the director have a very particular point to make, and are not subtle about making it. I won’t hesitate to say that the movie is well-written, well-performed, and beautifully shot, but the message is delivered with a sledgehammer.
Runnig time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Special features of the DVD include: The Making of Promised Land, and an alternate scene, mistakenly referred to as an Extended Scene.