"Promised Land" - A brief review

It’s not the kind of heavy and critical movie. The issue is simple: selling the land that’s passed on for generations to the gas company, Global, will make some instant fortune that can help the relatively impovished folks in the countryside who haven’t got much to sell; but it also surely will devastate the land which can provide them with some basic mean of life – and most of all the emotional attachment to their culture and dignity. It is a movie full of fun and humour, but not cliché. Arguments need not be made in hostile confrontation; romance need not endure hysterical fight; pollution needs not be explained by horrible, disgusting scenes. There was no harsh accusations to the gas company, nor their employees – “it’s just a job”. What is the most impressive throughout the movie is the lush green, peaceful scene of the countryside landscape; and of course, all the plain and rough – yet simple and kind – faces of the local people – old men, farmers, housewives, little girls alike – whose characters could only belong to this poor but gifted land. The people and their lifestyle will be gone when their land is sold. Aren’t these the strongest counter-arguments to the promised wealth and good life brought about by fracking shale gas?

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