In this new film from Gus Van Sant, the promised land of the title is a rural farming community called McKinley. It is a town where verdant countryside and beautiful old wooden houses are complimented by a buzzing, good natured nightlife centred on Buddy’s bar. Though it’s said many times in the course of the film that McKinley is a poor community, it never quite feels that way. There isn’t the air of desperation that would believably persuade a community to sacrifice itself to the dangers of fracking – the dangerous and environmentally catastrophic removal of natural gas from underground. But Van Sant has not made an environmental treatise here, rather it is a smaller tale of one man’s wayward moral compass.
The man in question is Steve Butler (Matt Damon), a salesman for a natural gas company who, along with his partner Sue (Frances McDormand), has been sent to McKinley to persuade its residents to allow fracking to take place in their land. Though they are initially met with open arms, they soon run up against opposition from a group of citizens led by the local science teacher (Hal Holbrook) and a charismatic environmental campaigner (John Krasinski). As Steve’s confidence wanes, he begins to question the rights and wrongs of his profession.
Though the town is populated by a host of interesting supporting turns from people like Scoot McNairy, Rosemary DeWitt and Titus Welliver, Promised Land is very much Damon’s movie. There is an easy charisma to his performance that immediately endears him to the audience. Steve’s mantra is "I’m not a bad guy" and he seems to sincerely believe this but on occasion we see him being a charlatan in his interactions with the townsfolk, from small insincerities (the well-rehearsed routine with which he greets his clients’ children) to more nefarious dealings. It is this dichotomy that makes Damon’s performance, and ultimately Promised Land as a whole, so engrossing to watch.
Though the issues are heavily simplified and the Americana of McKinley is perhaps a little too sugary sweet, Promised Land is a very engaging character study and sees Matt Damon at his best.