Free Essay About The Promised Land

The movie the Promised Land was produced in 2012 and starred Matt Damon. The movie portrayed the controversial issue of resource extraction, particularly fracking. Resource extraction has garnered extensive debates regarding the exploitation of land involved which consquently affects the lives of the people in the area. While other movies tackle environmental issues related to global warming, Promised Land presents the covert practice of large companies of staging and manipulating a situation in order to get the land they want. Steve Butler, played by Damon, was a corporate salesman sent by his company to a struggling farming town in Pennsylvania to purchase the drilling rights from the people in the area.
The movie was effective in bringing awareness about the danger of resource extraction, as well as the devious practices of large companies to further the interests of their business. The fake environmentalist, who turned out to be sent by the same company that Butler was working for, shed light as to the lengths that some companies go through to earn money. There was a clear disregard of the serious consequences to the environment and the people, which shows that people should be vigilant and take active participation in protecting their own environment, like what the community in the movie did. However, the movie would have ended better if justice was served. The company should have been punished in some ways instead of Butler getting fired.
Although the prominent voice heard in the movie was that of corporations and lobbyists, as represented by Butler, Thomason, and Noble, the citizen and community group should have been given more attention. Instead of simply being influenced by Butler, the high school teacher, who should also have been given more attention instead of being overshadowed by Noble, then Noble, they should have been made more active in their protest or agreement.