I guess essentially this flick could be dubbed an anti-fracking film that brings consciousness to the masses with the notoriously controversial method of extracting natural gas by fracking rocks. Nevertheless, two time Academy Award nominee for best Director, Mr. Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, 1997), sets up another interesting melodrama-style mystery with his former collaborator, Matt Damon. It is certainly worth mentioning that Damon not only produces and stars in the movie, but also co-wrote the script with John Krasinski (The Office) who played the part of a morally-vacant villain.
In this somewhat touchy topic of fracking, it seems that the subject-matter probes in to areas of mainstream economic hot-buttons that have been affecting the once thriving farm-lands of America. Moreover, it’s a familiar narrative that goes one step further and instead of simply being more of a conventional film pitting corporate villains against eco-green guys, the story delves somewhat deeper, exploring the moral conundrum of big-business offering economic support to depressed communities through questionable methods. And make no mistake; this is a quiet drama of social and personal relevance, about over-the-top corporate greed and immoral profit-seeking. Plus in a skillful, and not so subtly manner, it denounces corruption in the energy industry. Nevertheless, Promised Land is primarily a character-driven melodrama, albeit with undercurrents of environmental politics and sad portrayals of the rural American struggles. READ FULL PROMISED LAND REVIEW >>