Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is a method to
withdraw natural gas from rock layers beneath us by polluting the soil,
poisoning the water, destroying the local economy and driving the population
away. The natural gas isn’t sucked out as much as it’s frightened out by a
campaign of shock and awe.
This is a personal opinion, one that I think director Gus Van
Sant shares with me in his devastating new film Promised Land. Whether you think fracking is an energy savior or
world destroyer hardly matters, because the film is more interested in how far
an energy company would go to secure its profits. In my opinion, pretty far. If
a new energy source were discovered inside baby penguins, Exxon Mobil would have
half the world’s penguin population liquefied on a tanker within about a month’s
time.
In Promised Land the
company is called Global, a multi-national conglomerate energy group that is
very good at investing in energy, be it oil or natural gas. Global sends in
Steve Butler, a “town closer,” to begin leasing land from rural town folk in America ’s
heartland. Steve (Matt Damon) came from a small town just like this, he tells
people, and he even wears his grandpappy’s work boots, too. Oh, and let him
tell you about the time he painted the family barn. His down-home patter is a
well-oiled machine. He goes first to the large farms, where he tells them
Global will pay a cut of anything they make on their land. The farmers stand to
make thousands while Global makes millions. What Steve doesn’t tell them is
that their water will be a milky white and on some days they’ll be able to
light it on fire right out of the kitchen sink.
Some people sign up, and others refuse. The town’s high school
science teacher (Hal Holbrook) speaks some sense about fracking and its many
dangers, but for some the lure of untold money is too great. The town’s mayor
accepts a bribe and jumps right on board. When anyone does mention fracking’s
risks, Steve admits that there are some bad companies out there, “but not
Global.” He refuses to believe that his company would not tell him explicitly
if fracking were dangerous; his naïve attitude about his employer is his one
fault.
Promised Land plops
forward at an easy pace until eco-warrior Dustin (John Krasinski) shows up to
disrupt Steve’s sales pitch. Dustin and Steve are equals on opposite poles of
an idea: they’re both likable, they’re both reassuring in their reasoning, they
both exude confidence, and they both fall for a local teacher (Rosemarie
DeWitt), who they use as a sounding board for their various ideas. She can see
through both of them. By the end, after the town has heard both sides of the
fracking debate, the film sprung a twist on me so great, so devious, so utterly
convincing that I’m surprised I didn’t see it coming a mile down the road.
Van Sant and Damon haven’t worked together since 1997 — it’s been
too long for their reunion. Damon is given a lengthy monologue so powerful and
heartbreaking that it reminded me of Robin Williams’ “Sistine Chapel” speech
from Good Will Hunting, Damon and Van
Sant’s last collaboration together. The film is written by Damon and Krasinski,
and based on a story by writer David Eggers. The writing is sharp and clean,
and it sparkles with nuance and detail. There’s a scene where Steve closes a
lease deal with a poor family in a trailer. The father breaks out the expensive
alcohol for a toast. Later, to Steve’s horror, the father shows up in a new
Corvette because, you know, “we’ll be rich soon,” he says. The movie is filled
with little scenes like this, and they’re all exceptional.
Ultimately, what happens is that Steve must decide where his
loyalties lie — with his principles or with Global. That’s not a spoiler. You
could see it coming in the first scenes. What’s astonishing is not his choice,
but how he comes to make it.
