(CNN) -- There are "a lot of scare tactics in play here," Steve Butler, protagonist of the new anti-hydraulic-fracturing film "Promised Land," warns a local politician skeptical of the benefits of hydraulic fracturing. Played by Matt Damon, Butler is an earnest salesman for the energy giant Global Crosspower Solutions, bent on convincing a rural town in Pennsylvania that hydraulic fracturing will save its outdated agrarian economy from collapse. At first glance, Butler seems like a savior to the town, promising poor, unemployed farmers an economic renaissance. But he quickly becomes a villain -- a henchman of the big, bad corporation out to exploit the destitute and uninformed through bribes and get-rich-quick promises. That is, until a wizened old man (representing the film's voice of justice) stands up to Butler at a town meeting and exposes the alleged dangers of hydraulic fracturing that Butler was covering up.
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William Bennett: The new Matt Damon movie "Promised Land" tells anti-fracking tale
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He says film's message relies on scare tactics and anti-capitalist theme, offers little support
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He says fracking bringing U.S. economic boon; even EPA chief says it can be clean process
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Bennett: Freeing public land for well-regulated drilling will benefit Americans
Matt Damon
Matt Damon
The energy boom is bringing jobs and increased tax revenues back to rural America and not just to the pockets of big energy companies, as @placeholder and his co-writers would have you believe.