Movie Review Syriana

Syriana (2005) 

Directed by Stephen Gaghan 

Written by Stephen Gaghan 

Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, Tim Blake Nelson

Release Date November 23rd, 2005 

Published November 22nd, 2005 

2005 has been an extraordinary year for George Clooney. His second directorial effort Good Night and Good Luck, a film about the pitched battle between newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy, has been lauded by critics for its intellect and social relevance. Both Good Night and Good Luck and Clooney's latest acting effort Syriana are awards contenders with Clooney likely competing against himself as a supporting player in both films. In Syriana, Clooney is part of one of maybe a dozen subplots in a byzantine tale of corruption and futility. An exceptionally thought provoking narrative that is as fascinating as it is depressing.

Describing the plot of Syriana is a somewhat futile task. The complex, non-linear form of the script defies any simplistic description. The film is essentially about how business is done in the oil industry. But the real essence of Syriana is futility. The futility in attempting to stop the madness in the middle east. Futility in attempting to discern the culpability of oil companies in creating the instability of the middle east. And finally the futility of following the myriad of motivations of each of the characters in Syriana.

There is George Clooney's Bob Barnes, a CIA operative in the middle east, who we first meet as he is setting up some potential terrorists in Iran to be killed. Bob is getting older and his colleagues back in Washington are talking about the end of his career. Bob's career, the chance at a cushy desk job, rides on one last task. He must kill a potential new middle eastern king. When that job goes bad, Bob's career is beyond merely being over.

Matt Damon plays Brian Woodman, an oil industry analyst who lands a major new middle eastern client after his own son is killed at a party held by this new client. Naturally, this arrangement does not sit well with Brian's wife (Amanda Peet) who cannot abide profiting from her son's death. This does not deter however as becomes the top economic advisor to his new client. With this client about to become the biggest player in the Middle East, Brian stands to get very rich. This, however, puts Brian's interests at odds with a number of other competing interests.

Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper and Christopher Plummer inhabit another of Syria's many plots. Wright is an ambitious Washington lawyer who lands a gig trying to smooth the way for two major oil companies to merge into the fifth largest company in the world. Cooper is the CEO of one of the two companies, Killen Oil of Houston, Texas, and Christopher Plummer plays Wright's boss whose CIA connections are key in helping the merger succeed.

How these plots intrude on one another only becomes clear well into your post-film analysis. While watching Syriana you are dazzled individually by each plot, even as you have little idea what they mean or where they are headed. It's a rather astonishing film that can leave an audience so bedeviled and at once so fascinated. Syriana is as compelling a film as they come.

Director Steven Gaghan knows a little something about sprawling multi-layered, massively cast epics. It was Gaghan who scripted the Oscar nominated Traffic. Syriana and Traffic are each muckraking cousins in terms of stirring debates on important issues. Traffic is slightly superior in that it somehow feels more complete and its characters' motivations so much clearer. But both films are a testament to Gaghan's talent for complex and meaningful stories. 

When late in Syriana Clooney's CIA agent is chasing through the desert in attempt to save someone's life you cannot figure if it's just dumb luck that landed him in exactly the right spot or just an editing decision that excised the scene that might explain his luck. At one moment he looks lost, the next he is tearing off after exactly the people he's searching for. I say that Clooney's character was trying to save a life, but his motivation may be more ambiguous than that. There are a few more scenes missing from Syriana that might make the narrative clearer but, in the end, they aren't needed. Part of what makes Syriana fascinating is a level of ambiguity left to the audience to consider well after they have watched the film.

Working from a book by former CIA agent Robert Baer called See No Evil, director Steven Gaghan posits that much of the fictional tale of Syriana is based on reality. If this is true, Syriana could rank as one of the more depressing films of the year. Essentially it depicts oil companies, the CIA, and our government as morally bankrupt and completely corrupt. They do business with people in the middle east who are equally as corrupt and often more murderous than us, though we do more than our share of killing. 

Corruption, as illuminated in a quick but resonant speech by Tim Blake Nelson, in a pivotal cameo, is not only necessary, it is simply what we do. Corruption is American foreign policy. It is the cost of doing business, an everyday part of how things move through the Middle East. Both here and abroad corruption is everywhere and you can do nothing about because all of us, no matter how much you may deplore it, benefit from this corruption every day.

The gas you buy so cheaply as compared to other countries is the result of this corrupt system. Most of the products you buy are produced in some way, shape, or form using the oil that is siphoned from middle eastern oil fields. The corruption is inescapable unless you're willing to accept some major new inconveniences and even then you have to find a way to elect people who will put those new inconvenient policies in place, which means working around the corruption in place to hold up the corruption already in place. Good luck with that.

In a way Syriana reminds me of the first amendment documentary Orwell Rolls In His Grave, which details the corruption that has led all of America's communications industries to fall into the hands of a few wealthy elites. The thesis of 'Orwell' was that fighting the battle against the major media is a waste of time because they have all the power. Leaving Orwell I felt pretty hopeless and I had a similar, if slightly less desperate feeling leaving Syriana.

There is something hopeful in just the fact that a movie like Syriana got made. The film shines a light on some things I'm sure those in power would rather not become part of public discourse. That is not to say that Syriana has the power to change the nature of the way we do business in America but it's like the old saying about how people love bacon but no one wants to see how it's made. Syriana shows you just how our American economy is made in all of its gory, blood-soaked, greed-obsessed ways and leaves it to the individual viewers to decide how to live with that information.

Syriana is exceptional in executing its maze of plotting and leaving the audience with questions and feelings that could have a lasting impact. However, if you are looking for a simple movie to pass the time, you might want to look elsewhere. Syriana is not interested in being a simple entertainment. The makers of Syriana are intent on making you think about American foreign policy, about the feelings and interests of our allies, and enemies, and about the dirty business of making money in America. Often disheartening but never boring, Syriana is a powerful film going experience.