Eugene Jarecki, creator of Why we fight (2005) and The House I Live In (2012), directs this interesting documentary that travels throughout America and tells the story of Elvis, of fame and democracy during the 2016 American election campaign. Promised Land is a roadtrip through land and time, that tries to discover if the american dream has ever been real; for that purpose it uses Elvis as a metaphor for America itself and presents lots of commentators who, sitting in a Rolls-Royce, talk not only about the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" but also about the social and political situation in the US from the 60's up to today.Featuring personalities such as actors Alec Baldwin, Ashton Kutcher, Ethan Hawke, Mike Myers, musicians Chuck D, Leo Bud Welch as well as music journalist Greil Marcus and political analyst James Carville, Jarecki makes a comparison between Elvis's rise to stardom and idolization and then decadence to a caricature of himself and the way things work in the US. This may not sound profound or even new, but in fact Promised Land ends up being a rather interesting comment on the effects of emhemeral fame as well as the role money plays in any profession and life choice.
The magnitude of the racial problem in the US is always surprising to an outsider. African-Americans never truly accepted the title "King of Rock 'n' Roll" that was given to Elvis Presley; and why would they? There had always been black musicians who lived for the music. They preceded Presley and they even outlived him. But, as they say, he was the man who brought this music to a "white" country; and it was natural for him to succeed. But were his choices made out of prudence or out of the need for "more and more"? Hawke emphasizes the fact that Elvis always made the choice of money over the choice of true longing. And isn't that what drives America as a country? The option of power, money and dominion over others?
As the documentary progresses, the parallels between Elvis' life and the American evolution become clearer (at least in the way Jarecki chooses to present them). Becoming famous seems easy but what happens when you have to preserve this status against all odds including your bad self? Kutcher has come to the exceptionally sensible realisation that sometimes fame can be disproportionally bigger than the amount of talent you have or the work you do. And that is something that applies to everyone and everything in the western world, especially in the US. Being able to handle this fame and the pressure that comes with it is a matter of personal strength and self-consiousness, however. When it comes to artists, fame may also have other negative effects. It is not only a matter of maintaining your position in your professional environment; it is also about being able to go on creating quality art representative of who you are as an artist. Mike Myers delivers the quote of the movie (if not of the decade): "fame is the industrial disease of creativity". The pressure, the fans, the spotlight, the contracts, time itself; all works against you.
As for politics, Promised Land was shot in 2016, amidst the chaos of the presidential election. It was only natural to compare everything with the mayhem that democracy has become lately. The United States of America, the so-called cradle of modern democracy, a country that has been advertising its motto of equality and rights and the american dream that gives everyone the chance to work hard and succeed ("the biggest lie of all", one of the commentators adds) is a fraud.
There is no equality when in order for black music to be listened to, a white man has to sing it first; there is no american dream when you can become famous over nothing and there is no true democracy when an extremely rich person can buy his way to the presidency (surprisingly and ironically, at the time of filming, Baldwin, who has ruled our televisions with his incredible Trump impersonation, couldn't even believe that Trump had a chance of being elected). But maybe that's what Jarecki wanted to show as he put his guests in Elvis' Rolls Royce to travel from east coast to west coast (like Elvis who ended up in Las Vegas): America was the land that was promised but not the land that would deliver.
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