Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon and Amanda Peat
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Rated: MA15+
SYRIANA is an intricate and interesting film from Stephen Gaghan, who is perhaps best known for Traffic.
Syriana‘s story follows several narratives, stretching from Beirut to Spain to Washington to a Pakistani refugee camp and back again.
If it seems a complicated arrangement, bear in mind the ambition of this film’s vision – to show the average filmgoer how Middle East politics, oil trade, Islamic fanaticism and American power interact in this shadowy world, often culminating in violence of one form or another.
George Clooney plays CIA field operative Bob Barnes, trading arms and striking deals with terrorist groups under instruction from Washington.
The goals of his superiors are hard to discern, and are never stated outright – not much is in Syriana – but as their motives become clear, so too do the intertwining threads of each narrative.
The structure can at times make the film tricky to consume, but it’s definitely worth it.
Director Stephen Gaghan has done this before in the celebrated movie about drug trafficking, Traffic.
By showing many seemingly discrete angles of a “big picture” concept, he compels our attention to a myriad of issues, giving us the type of overview that many do not possess.
There are some decent cameos to keep an eye out for – Christopher Plummer and William Hurt to name two. Matt Damon gives a decent performance as well.
Syriana is perhaps a striking indictment of how the currents of money and influence affect political “change” and the chaos left in the wake of actions such as the assassinations of political leaders.
Corruption at the highest levels is referred to throughout Syriana, but in the current climate I find the subtext more objective than not.
A thoughtful film that takes a few chances with an audience and delivers.
