Syriana

This is a great, complex movie. Its only faults are in the clarity of character motivations. This is not a liberal or conservative film. It is an exploration into the existing system that evolved over many years.

At no point in the movie does it take any pot-shots at Bush, Republicans, or Democracts. In fact, non of those words are ever spoken. It is not a left/right - red/blue debate. At no point in time does it ever mention the political parties of those in charge.

The fact is, be it a Republican or Democrat, this world depends on oil. Our country while split on how to obtain it, will do anything to make sure the flow is not cut off.

This movie finds faults with the global economy. Faults with the US system that has been tweaked by both sides over the span of decades. Faults with the Middle East for squandering its earnings. Faults with emerging China and its impact on consumption.

Anyone claiming this movie is politically motivated is a troll looking for attention and should be ignored.

I gave "Syriana" a 7 only because I thought it could have been a little easier to follow. And I love complicated plots. Other than that, this is an excellent movie about how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and what people will do to control the oil situation and profit by it. In the film, which is based on a book by an ex-CIA agent (the Clooney character), we are shown many different stories that eventually come together - a CIA agent who infiltrates the other side, an executive and his family, two brothers struggling for a country's power, a young man who is seduced into a fundamentalist cell, and fat cats who want two huge oil companies want to merger and will do just about anything to get the merger approved. Probably the most sobering thing in the film for me was the fact that the emir had two sons ready to take over the country, and the U.S. wanted to make sure that the son in power was the one more in tune with them than the other son, who wanted to do things for his country and his people.

The point made by George Clooney on one of the DVD features is that there are no good guys and no bad guys - the oil people, despite despicable actions, feel completely justified doing what they do because we need oil. As a result, other countries hate us, we're at war now, and with so many Iraquis killed, terrorists have been able to raise money for their cause. I told you the most sobering part. The saddest was a young man, before a suicide mission, approaching his father and asking for money for the bus. The father is playing baseball and stops and gives him the money. The boy impulsively hugs him and holds him tight. It was heartbreaking and frustrating - they believe in their cause and are willing to die for it, and I can't understand how that can be. But it is.

The performances are all excellent with many stars, such as William Hurt, in cameos. Chris Cooper, Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey Wright, Robert Foxworth, Matt Damon, and Amanda Peet are all wonderful as part of this intricate story. Clooney is great - his eyes are haunted, he's scruffy, flabby, and conveys terror and his sense of isolation beautifully.

You see "Syriana," and you think, wow, that was pretty complicated, I'm not even sure I knew half of what was going on - and then you can't forget about it. "Syriana" and its thought-provoking messages will haunt you and make you wonder what on earth is going to happen to all of us.

Initially I wanted to compare it with Traffic, same style and interwoven story lines, but the film itself stopped me from doing so. Thank you. Comparing films can so difficult, you know, the old apples v. oranges thing. This film stands on its own without the comparison or the similarities to Traffic.

Just before I went to the movie theatre, I saw an interview with Steve Gaghan the director on the Charlie Rose Show, and probably this helped me to fit most of the pieces together. The scene where Bob (Clooney) is taken to visit Hezbollah leaders, is based on the exact experience the director had when researching the story. He said that most of the film was based on his or Bob's actual experiences.

So what do we have....Oil, big oil, oil executives, oil analysts, oil geography, oil politics, big time oil power brokers, CIA, Islamic terrorists, Middle East culture....It's all there. And Steve Gaghan does a very good job in bringing it all together. His directorial debut. Very good acting all round, maybe the oldest boy and his mother Amanda Peet stand out.

I walked out of the theatre in an emotional daze, if that's possible. I will see this film again.

My coda.... What a rotten, ugly barrel of oil.

Syriana is a confused, ambitious and complex thriller of corruption and power related to the oil industry that tells four parallel stories: the CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) with great experience in Middle East that falls in disgrace after an unsuccessful mission dealing missiles in Lebanese Republic; the investigation of the attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) related to the merge of two American oil companies, Connex and Killen; the traumatic association of the energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) with the son of a powerful emir of Iran; and the social drama of the Pakistani immigrant worker Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir) that is fired by the oil company.

The greatest problem with this movie is that it is too complex for only 126 minutes running time, due to the number of plots, subplots and characters; therefore its edition is tremendously confused with the use of many ellipsis. It would be more appropriated a mini-series, or a longer film. Even the title of this movie is very ambiguous, with many non-official explanations. The movie's website states that "'Syriana' is a very real term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East." (http://syrianamovie.warnerbros.com/about.html). In the end, I truly found this movie a pretentious and sophisticated collection of clichés sold in a beautiful "package". My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Syriana – A Indústria do Petróleo" ("Syriana – The Oil Industry")

"Syriana" is a Drama - Thriller movie in which we watch the intricate and often corrupt relationship between the oil industry, government, and global power structures.

I found this movie very interesting mainly because of its plot and the connection between some events. The movie presented a realistic view of the machinations behind oil, power, and geopolitics, giving the audience a sobering look at how corruption and exploitation shape the modern world. The interpretation of George Clooney who played as CIA operative Bob Barnes was one of the strongest of the movie. The movie's tone is tense and gritty, reflecting the dangerous world in which it takes place. However, it can be difficult to follow at times, with its fragmented narrative and multiple story-lines. The movie requires careful attention to detail since the thematic depth is impressive and the storytelling a bit complicated. Lastly, I have to say that "Syriana" is a compelling political thriller movie that offers a sharp critique of global power dynamics and the oil industry so, its plot and intricate storytelling may not be for everyone.