Promised Land
(2012)
(SPOILERS) Matt Damon’s would-be directorial debut finished
up helmed by old pal Gus Van Sant. Scheduling conflicts got the better of the
man who was Bourne. It’s easy to see why Damon wanted in; he co-wrote the
script with co-star John Krasinski, and this is the kind of socially conscious
fare Matt and buddy George Clooney have a yen for. Politically alert
entertainments that raise issues and provoke the audience, however gently. Both
have in mind the cinema of the ‘70s, but ultimately Promised Land is just to damn nice and well meaning to get under
the skin. Like it’s lead actor, then. It takes a subject the public are fairly unequivocally
adversarial towards, the fracking industry – certainly to the extent that few
have any illusions over its environmental side effects – and manages to divest
itself of a position; of any semblance of anger or righteousness. The movie
comes from such an “understand all sides’ place (including that of big
business) that in the end all it can do is shrug and mumble something about
personal convictions. Krasinski and Damon overtly acknowledge that’s the age we
live in (one character’s mantra is “It’s
just a job”), so they only have themselves to blame. It should be no
surprise that their resolutely unassuming movie failed to find an audience.
Whether or not that’s a result of pre-empting criticisms
from the energy industry is a question for Damon and Krasinski. It’s certainly
disingenuous to be surprised that a discrediting campaign started even before
the picture’s release; this is exactly the sort of thing the picture’s salesman
are in the business of encouraging. The Wiki page for the film even devotes a
sub-heading to the suggestion Damon et co were somehow insidiously in cahoots
with the Machiavellian machinations of the United Arab Emirates (which part
financed the film, even though this only occurred after Warner Bros put it in
turnaround) as part of a plot to mire the US’s natural gas industry. Okay… They should probably have read the screenplay
before investing, in that case. The
screenwriting duo utilised a storyline from David Eggers, and Krasinski has
said (no doubt in part to distract those claiming he’s out to get the frackers)
their original idea was to use wind power. That might have been more
interesting in some respects, given the vocal lobby against wind farms cite
reasons varying from the aesthetic to its subsidisation, but it leaves an empty
hole where juicy plot elements like environmental disaster and conspiracy might
be found (one could argue about the effect on certain species of birds, or the noise
disruption, but it isn’t really compelling).
Damon’s Steve Butler is a hotshot employee of Global
Crosspower Solutions, a hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) company, one who has
a strong track record for convincing landowners to sell drilling rights on
their land. He thinks he’s doing a good thing, coming from a small Iowa farm
community himself (“I’m not selling them
natural gas. I’m selling them the only way they have to get back,” he
pronounces earnestly). So he and partner
Sue (the ever marvellous Frances McDormand) travel to the Pennsylvania
community where they expect the sale to be a piece of cake. It proves
otherwise, not least because of the galvanising effect of local teacher and
engineering PhD Frank Yates (Hal Holbrook), who is able to cut through Steve’s
rehearsed bullshit. Things only get worse when environmentalist Dustin Noble
(Krasinski) arrives with tales and photos of the dead cows from fracking back
home in Nebraska.
The twist that Noble also works for Global is a rather good
one, in and of itself; he’s a plant whose involvement suggests the type of
conspiratorial subterfuge required of a decent ‘70s thriller. But Krasinski has
little edge, and serves to emphasise how light this confection is. And the
writers wilfully fudge any chance to polemicise. This isn’t about whether
Global are or aren’t deceiving good-hearted salt-of-the-earth folk over the
effects of fracking. It’s about how they lied to Steve and used him for their
own ends. Which is basically what he’s
been doing to the simple townsfolk all along.
Steve is intended as a well-meaning “good guy”, the type
we’ve seen essayed by James Stewart or Robert Redford in previous decades. Yet
here it’s difficult to swallow his innocence. He’s supposed to be well versed
in fracking lore and counter-arguments, yet he’s shocked when actual evidence
of environmental hazard is suggested? It’s not the capacity to deceive oneself
that is difficult to digest; Steve’s sincerity contrasts effectively enough
with the meat hook realities voiced by Sue (she isn’t going to lose her job for
anything as noble as principles; she has a child to support). It’s that he should surely have experienced
this crisis of confidence much sooner if he was going to at all. And when it
comes down to it, his disavowal of Global is of the most tepid kind. He pretty
much says, “Fracking might be okay, it probably will be in your case”.
Obviously, there’s a difference between the character’s view and the actor’s,
but you end up thinking this movie has just bottled it.
One has to assume the reluctance to fully embrace an actual
opinion is infused in the script’s DNA, though. The principle lecture on the
effects of fracking could be viewed as patronsing in the extreme, since it is
delivered by way of Noble’s school presentation to a class of juniors. Hey, if kids
can understand, surely the cinema audience can too? But more than that, the
heart of the picture lies not with the subject matter but the small town ethos
it explores. The classic David and Goliath impulse is in there but it becomes
more about Steve rediscovering his priorities, as embodied by Holbrook’s assurances
that Butler actually is a good guy
(this comes up so many times, it suggests the writers themselves are unsure, with
only Damon playing Steve to really make it so) and his relationship with Alice
(Rosmarie DeWitt).
The areas where I can’t fault Krasinski and Damon are those
of character interplay and dialogue. If you leave out the debates, the interactions
between the cast have an easy energy, a zip and brio. From Steve and Sue’s playful
sparring to Steve and Alice’s flirtatious wit, scene to scene this often highly
enjoyable. Damon usually has great chemistry with his co-stars; he’s naturally affable.
But with DeWitt, he’s on overdrive. She’s a joy to watch; so smart and quick Steve
can only defer to Alice’s superior wisdom. I hope these two appear together
again, as they have a great rapport.
Nearly as enjoyable is the maybe-romance between Sue and Rob
(Titus Welliver), the deceptively insightful owner of Guns, Groceries, Guitars
and Gas. It’s another case of leaving great performers to do their thing, but
it’s backed up by genuinely smart dialogue (“God, I wish I’d thought of that” says Sue on reading the store
sign). Lucas Black and Scoot McNairy also make an impression in brief
supporting roles. The former might want to think about branching out from hick
parts, though.
Damon has a couple of good speech scenes, one of which is a
bar monologue where he promotes the efficacy of “Fuck You money” to an unimpressed clientele. He conjures the
spectre of the Clooney-esque smooth talking fixer. Yet the awareness of counter
arguments to preservation and conservation, the needs of an a energy-thirsty
society run amok without the will to find answers (“Yeah, let’s just run everything on rainbows and happy thoughts”),
render the movie as a whole faint-hearted. Steve’s final sermon invokes
metaphor to a cloying degree, hoping to distract from the matter in hand with
sloppy vagueness (“We might be betting
more than we think. But this is still our barn”). By doing so, Damon and Krasinski
ensure Promised Land doesn’t become
part of the solution, but part of the problem. Pervading ambivalence, where the
only answer is individual choice because a united stand against the remorseless
wheels of capitalism and “progress” is doomed to crumble. I’m glad Damon is
making films with an ethical dimension, but he needs to try harder. Elysium is disappointingly trite in
conception and execution, while Promise
Land, unconsciously I’m sure, manages to suggest any attempt to push back
the tide is futile. Better to settle down with a nice girl and forget all about
it.
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