Syriana

After much anticipation, I finally got to see Syriana. Though not without its faults, the film did not disappoint. I should say that I did a project for Participant Productions, so I came into the theatre with a lot of positive bias


The bad first. Yes, I agree with the moans of complexity, the groans of loose threads and unnecessary violence. The films' several concurrent story lines are fragmented, thinly unexplained and somewhat meandering.


But dismissing Syriana because it's hard to get is a bit of a cop out. The film is ambitious in its attempt to cover a lot of ground, from Washington to the "Persian Gulf" (presumably Saudi), to Spain and Geneva. More than its geographic expanse, Syriana hits some of the biggest issues of our time: big oil's massive political influence from Saudi to Kazakhstan to Washington, the seeds of Islamic terrorism (which lay, according to the film, in economic disparity), and the growing challenge to American economic superiority--China.


Yes, this may be more than most holiday movie-goers are willing to bite off. And it may be more than any film can pull off without difficulty. But director Stephan Gaghan and a cast that includes Clooney, Damon, Chris Cooper and William Hurt do a damn good job of it. I only wish that more films would help in covering some of the same important subject matter.


Participant has created an "Oil Change" campaign around the film, through partnerships with NRDC and Sierra Club. Check out the campaign and get involved: http://www.participate.net/oilchange.


Next on the list (should've been first) is to read Robert Baer's book from whence Syriana came, "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism."