Review

Review Date: 11-December-05
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Just OK?

Syriana (2005)

I don't know what judgment to pass on Stephen Gaghan's "Syriana" because I barely understood what was going on during the entire run time of the film. That in itself is a strike against it (I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but not the bluntest either), yet I feel I should shoulder some of the blame for being deliberately ignorant of politics, big business, and current events. A better understanding of these things might shed some light on the movie's many plotlines, which mostly deal with the United States' relationship with oil and the countries that have it.

The stories interlace only slightly, despite the movie's tagline that "everything is connected." There's a CIA agent (George Clooney) whose shifty occupation gets the best of him; an American "energy analyst" (Matt Damon) who jeopardizes his family by joining the retinue of a liberal Arab prince (Alexander Siddig); a quietly manipulative attorney (Jeffrey Wright) investigating the merger of two oil companies; and a young Pakistani (Mazhar Munir) swept up in the religious zealotry of the Middle East. These men contribute to the drama of the most serious competition on Earth simply by reaching for what makes men tick, i.e., money, power, enlightenment, or the hope of a better society. While doing so, they spar and philosophize with a host of supporting players including Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Tom McCarthy, Nicky Henson, and Chris Cooper.

The overall point of "Syriana" is one that even I could see coming: how the big boys in Washington and boardrooms across the U.S. will stop at nothing — sabotage, injustice, murder — to further their (our) access to oil and the wealth it brings. There's a reason why I like to stay ignorant of such matters (it's called "mental health"), and the confusing mosaic of "Syriana" doesn't offer much reason to pull my head out of the sand.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.