CBS’ ‘Promise’ Is Stoic if Not Subtle

You’ve got to respect a TV movie that allows its Native American characters to speak in their own language while requiring viewers to read subtitles. Like a small-screen version of “Dances With Wolves,” CBS’ “Keeping the Promise” (which airs Sunday at 9 p.m.) is careful to respect and honor the American Indian culture it portrays.

But that’s not to say that this 18th century frontier drama even remotely approaches Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film in overall quality. Though well-intentioned, “Keeping the Promise” is nevertheless a stiffly executed work that lacks commanding verve or style. In other words, it’s imbued with the same, flat visual and character definition that signifies so many made-for-TV films.

It doesn’t help that some of the early colonial settlers here tend to speak in a formal manner that comes across as excessively wooden. Keith Carradine is particularly ill-suited to his role as the adventurous family man, Will Hallowell. He simply doesn’t convey his character’s tough stoicism effectively.

“Keeping the Promise” does contain a plot that’s moderately involving, if unimaginatively laid out. The film basically begins with Will and his 13-year-old son Matt traveling from a small town in Massachusetts to uncharted Maine, where Will has purchased land. Matt (Brendan Fletcher) is subsequently forced to protect the family’s new property and freshly built cabin by himself so that his father can return home to retrieve his mother and two younger siblings.

Almost immediately, matters go awry for the Hallowell family. Back in Massachusetts, infant James and mother Anne (Annette O’Toole) contract typhoid fever. Meanwhile, Matt falls into a river while pursuing an unscrupulous trapper who has stolen his father’s prized rifle. The unconscious boy is pulled from the water by an American Indian elder who then nurses him back to health.

Matt’s dealings with the Penobscot tribe is the most engaging element of “Keeping the Promise.” The local Native Americans teach him invaluable survival skills; in exchange, the blond boy helps the youngster Attean (William Lightning) learn how to read English. The Penobscot people realize that, for their own benefit, they must learn how to decipher the white man’s written treaties and land grants. It’s unfortunate that the evolving relationship between Matt and Attean is so awkwardly and obviously executed.

“Keeping the Promise” has a number of compassionate and educational things to say about the difficult but proud lives of both the Native Americans and the European settlers of the 1700s. These points just needed to be made within a more creative and compelling dramatic context.

* “Keeping the Promise” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS.