"Land of Plenty": Think of it as a sincere get-well card for America
Shot on digital video in 2004, "Land of Plenty" has been kicking around the art-house circuit ever since, with many reviewers taking German director Wim Wenders to task for crafting a shaggy tale of redemption in post-Sept. 11 America.
That naysaying seems unfairly churlish. The ironically titled "Land of Plenty" is so readily identifiable as a Wenders film, with echoes of "Paris, Texas" and "Kings of the Road," that Wenders fans will feel compelled to embrace it, faults and all. It casts a spell of compassionate humanity with a gently healing effect.
"Land of Plenty," with John Diehl, Michelle Williams, Richard Edson. Directed by Wim Wenders, from a screenplay by Wenders and Michael Meredith. 119 minutes. Not rated; for mature audiences (contains profanity, brief violence). Northwest Film Forum, through Thursday.
Wenders' affection for America is tempered here by post-Sept. 11 melancholy, and his foreigner's perspective is just as valid as any spiritual uplift promised by Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center." Look and listen closely to "Land of Plenty," and you'll find a love for America sensibly balanced by a sincere concern for our future.
Filmed in Los Angeles and the Mojave pit-stop of Trona, Calif., in just three weeks, "Land of Plenty" (rushed into production when filming of Wenders' "Don't Come Knocking" was postponed) concerns a burned-out Vietnam vet and self-appointed vigilante named Paul (a fine role for character actor John Diehl) who patrols L.A. in his low-tech surveillance van, trolling for terrorists and transmitting progress reports to Jimmy (Richard Edson), a low-life buddy with a knack for the Internet.
Shortly after his estranged niece Lana (Michelle Williams, prior to "Brokeback Mountain") returns from years of missionary work abroad, Paul witnesses the drive-by killing of a Pakistani man he'd suspected of involvement in a terrorist cell. Reunited with Lana, he delivers the man's body to a grateful relative in Trona, where Lana's Christian charity runs counter to her uncle's misguided paranoia.
That's all the plot worth mentioning, and much of "Land of Plenty" (titled after one of the Leonard Cohen songs on the soundtrack) feels raggedly improvised. Still, Wenders' tale of impoverished fringe-dwellers offers a telling glimpse of America's physical and sociopolitical landscape, and this reviewer feels generously inclined to give Wenders credit for his insight.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net