Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 29 Sep only @ 15:45
Gus Van Sant / USA, United Arab Emirates / 2012 / 107 mins
With so many quality documentaries being made, it is easy to forget just how much impact a well-told fictional story can still have when it comes to global issues. Promised Land brings the audience into the heart of a community considering whether they should risk allowing unconventional gas drilling (more commonly known as fracking) in order to rejuvenate their declining fortunes.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of this film is its authenticity. The characters never revert to easy stereotypes, each one is a complex study of a genuine human being grappling with deep moral dilemmas – what happens when the price of your children’s future may be the earth itself? The rolling scenery is instantly recognisable as middle America. Even the ubiquitous checked shirts and local boozer anchor this story inexorably in its setting.
Take One Action’s discussion panelists, environmental journalist Rob Edwards and Friends of the Earth campaigner Mary Church, unsurprisingly have a very clear agenda and their well-researched opinions put any lingering Hollywood sentimentality into perspective. However it is to Van Sant’s credit that Promised Land avoids taking any hard and fast moral stance, rather it serves as a powerful reminder that open discussion and self education are always worthy investments.
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