Promised Land
Where: Cineplex Odeon Victoria
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Matt Damon, Hal Holbrook, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt.
Parental advisory: PG, coarse language
In many ways, Promised Land travels the same moral pathways that made Up in the Air so compelling. Just as that Oscar-nominated film delved into the complicated issues that arise when human values get mixed in with business, Promised Land casts a relatively even light over the unwinnable choice many farmers face when they have to decide between two evils.
Residents of a small community 鈥� the kind of Anywhere, USA, where there are stores that proudly boast they sell 鈥淕uns, Groceries, Guitars, Gas鈥� 鈥� must decide whether to lease their land to a gas company for deep drilling because they need the money or reject the offer because of all the environmental issues.
Matt Damon plays salesman Steve Butler, the handsome-faced representative who shows up with his partner (Frances McDormand) to lock up leases that could be worth millions to both the farmers and the gas company.
What appears to be an easy task, considering the number of foreclosures dotting the rolling landscape, hits a snag when a wide-eyed conservationist (John Krasinski) 鈥� with the little-too-obvious name of Dustin Noble 鈥� shows up with evidence of the disasters of past drilling.
The screenplay by Krasinski and Damon leans heavily on the side of saving the planet. But there are arguments made for why such a tricky venture makes sense. The loudest arguments against the deal come from local science teacher Frank Yates (Hal Holbrook).
But even he, in the end, admits that he has the luxury of being old enough that he would not have to deal with any of the negative consequences.
There鈥檚 a secondary story line about the love triangle of Butler, Noble and Alice (Rosemarie DeWitt), a local teacher who could charm the husks off corn.
This geometrically challenged relationship never develops enough to make it as interesting as the main plot, but it also isn鈥檛 dealt with enough to be a distraction.
What makes the movie is Damon, who has a complicated mixture of all-American looks with a corporate heart. It鈥檚 the way he so effortlessly slips from a man of conviction to a man of the people that makes the role and 鈥� by extension 鈥� the film work. He provides the kind of firm touch necessary to make the movie鈥檚 message come across with absolute clarity without making viewers feel like they have been slapped or punched by the point.
A lot of that comes from the direction by Gus Van Sant, who manages to make big business look bad but not maniacal, and small-town America look quaint without feeling like a haven for the backward and ill-informed. Van Sant also shows an appreciation for the land by often allowing the camera to quietly drift over the landscape like a lone cloud on a summer day.
Promised Land is the latest film to deal with a dilemma that continues to grow as the economy shrinks. Sadly, the question of doing the right thing is no longer a black-and-white issue.
It鈥檚 now tainted with deep greens.
