It seems like Hollywood’s jumped on the fracking bandwagon with a new movie starring Matt Damon called Promised Land. It may not be the best film of 2012, but it’s an important one.

I recently watched the trailer (which of course was scored with overly dramatic music and featured emotional close-ups of Damon and his co-stars) and from what I’ve seen, I don’t think the movie is going to be a massive success, but the film does appeal to the farming community.

The story

Damon, who plays a land buyer for a major oil and gas company, gives his colleague the secret to his success. In the opening of the trailer Damon says “I grew up in a large farming community. We had tractor pulls, cow tipping…” Damon’s an old country boy who has returned to the country to give farmers million-dollar checks for use of their land.

He makes a ton of money. He loves his job. He’s on top of the world until he’s confronted with a sobering reality: The technology his company uses is ruining the farmers’ land. Oops.

As a former entertainment journalist and recovering film junkie, I saw the narrative turn coming from a mile away– even if it’s a bit embellished. But the reason why Promised Land is an important film is because it solidifies the fact that fracking is now mainstream. The process has permeated deep enough into America’s culture that Hollywood thinks it can make a couple bucks off of it. They’re probably right.

The film is a character drama that happens to deal with fracking. What Promised Land seems to lack in facts, it makes up for with a great cast. It may even be Oscar worthy.

For more information on hydraulic fracturing, visit the FAQ.

Promised Land is scheduled to release in theaters on Dec. 28.