Syriana [2005]

This review is for the blu-ray. This film was certainly aiming big, taking on the oil industry, the problems of succession in family dominated regimes in the Gulf, radicalisation of young muslims and the convoluted role of the CIA. Just who are the bad guys again?

There were four different strands in the film that remained resolutely separate for most of the way through - certainly long past a point where I wanted to see them begin to connect.

Ultimately the result of this was that there wasn't enough character development, meaning I just didn't care enough about any of them, by the time the conclusion arrived. George Clooney gave an interesting performance as a CIA agent who was out of his depth, Christopher Plummer was very good as the seasoned oilman pulling the strings, and Matt Damon had his usual boyish charm, but it didn't really work in the aftermath of his son's death.

Picture Quality was not as good as I would have liked either. Colours were muted, there was some grain visible and the definition was nothing to write home about. Highlights were desert scenes, and some of the white flowing arab robes that really stood out from the background and drew the eye.

Sound quality was also a mixed bag, with a Dolby 5.1 track being the main offering. The sound was up-and-down, with some of the dialogue in particular appearing almost muffled. I found I had to adjust the volume on my TV to try and keep up.

All-in-all I really wanted to like this film. Far too often films trivialise the serious issues of the day, or are afraid of tackling big subjects because of the risk of offending someone. This film certainly deserves plaudits for being willing to try, but in my view it didn't quite make it.

Syriana is a challenging, intriguing, and truly thought provoking thriller. While it takes the format of a political thriller/ensemble piece, it is in many ways a devastating analogy of many factors affecting the Middle East and West today; the resource curse, the unaccountable nature of corporate power, and US policy toward regional stability and interests, and the extents it will apparently go to in order to safeguard these interests.
Syriana revolves around three interconnected story lines; a pending succession in an unnamed Gulf Emirate, a corporate merger between two oil giants and the ensuing DOJ rubber stamp investigation, a Pakistani migrant worker whose outlook has been jettisoned by the merger, and a longtime CIA operative whose concern for the truth over official US policy is having detrimental effects on his career outlook.
While the Middle East is changing as we speak, it is no secret that Washington's official policy for decades has been stability at all costs. This is anchored in ensuing a steady supply of oil, and ensuring troop presence to act as an insurance policy should events like Iran in 1979 or Gulf War I repeat themselves. This forms the backbone of the Zubaidi storyline, wherein a young, highly educated Prince with a modernizing outlook seeks to take his country out of the shackles of the resource curse, increase production capacity by improving the logistical transport of oil (with a pipeline through Iran) and end US troop presence in his country. This essentially puts him at odds with Washington.
The merger story line essentially explores the reality that some mergers or corporate operations are just too important for the overall economy to let fine details like irregularities get in the way, therefore an investigation is undertaken by a US Attorney to find a few fall guys simply to give the deal a patina of legal legitimacy.
The story line involving the migrant workers should provide enough insight into the nature of Gulf States and the treatment of the foreign labor populations to at least deflect any criticisms that the movie has a pro-Arab bias. Two hard working and optimistic Pakistani migrants find their future status undermined by their summary lay off from their labor contract. As the Gulf State becomes decidedly non accommodating to newly unemployed migrant workers, the two find themselves drawn into the seductive clutches of a charismatic, yet pernicious Islamist.
The George Clooney/CIA story line essentially arcs around all the aforementioned story lines, and is in many ways the glue holding the various stories together.
Despite being fiction, Syriana provides an understandable insight into the nature of the West's addiction to oil and the many side effects. It is not a critique aimed at particular individuals or ideologies, rather it is an institutional critique, a challenge to the current trade system we all essentially are involved in.
Speaking as a Graduate of International Relations, I can safely say that a viewer who watches and absorbs Syriana will take home a better understanding of the Middle East than many of my Alumni ever grasped.
By no means an easy watch, and certainly not the kind of movie one can watch over a poker game and a few beers. However, those who give this movie the attention and concentration it deserves will find an engaging thriller that challenges their outlook on the contemporary world.
The Blu Ray version delivers the superior picture quality as one would expect with the Blu Ray format, but alas there are no additional extras to those already contained in the DVD version.
Syriana is perhaps the smartest movie I have ever seen, and I say this as a Graduate of International Relations. However, this is not a movie exclusively for followers of current events, it is a movie for everyone as we are, whether we like it or not, involved in the realities portrayed in this film. A movie that should be watched and re-watched.

This is by far one of the best films ever made. Many complain of its complexity and 'anti-American' undertones. However, films sometimes have to be complicated. We can't all expect simple good vs. bad Mission Impossible/Bond-type story lines. I also don't think it is anti-American, rather analytical of selfish capitalist/economic imperialist attitudes that pervade American foreign policy towards the middle east. Though, the group that comes out worst in my opinion is that of the inept Arab gulf sheikhdoms that this film is really about. It is brilliant viewing on Blu Ray.