Syriana

I saw a very good movie last night: Syriana. I won't tell you the characters or what happens. I will tell you that it's about oil:

• How we do anything to get it. We will support anyone so that we can have ready access to it.
• We'll grease the wheels of government to get it. And government will gladly acquiesce.
• We're not interested in elevating ourselves or the people of the Middle East. We're only interested in keeping the oil flowing.
• Oil companies can and will do anything in the name of increasing their profits.
• People of integrity and of change are collateral damage. They will be thrown under the bus by the corrupt.
• How we turn an incredibly complex world situation into a political speech punchline.

The intertwining storylines and documentary style camera work is reminiscent of Traffic, for good reason. The director and writer, Steven Gaghan, was the writer of Traffic. Plus, Clooney and Steven Soderburgh were both producers of Syrianna, as they were with Traffic. The choices in movies and causes that Clooney has made over the last years are admirable. Here is someone who could have put it on auto-pilot and chose to turn out any piece of studio crap to make a quick buck, but chose to use his clout to make personal, political movies like "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Syriana" that could have jeopardized his career. But rather, because of the quality of what he has done, they have strengthened it. This was similar in many ways to Mel Gibson getting the Passion of the Christ made. Though I don't agree with a lot of Gibson's views and don't believe that Passion was as much of a cinematic triumph as it was made out to be, I respect the risk that he took to make a personal film. And I respect George Clooney even more.


There have been several books describing the Middle East situation, oil, our involvement, etc. Imperial Hubris is one. House of Bush, House of Saud is another. I recommend them both. And I recommend this movie.