If there is any lesson the makers of Syriana want us to absorb, it is that we should trust no one where power and money are concerned.
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I was a little surprised that Warner Bros. decided to bring out "Syriana" in high definition. When I saw the picture in a theater, I thought it looked intentionally soft, dull, grainy, gritty, and whatnot to give it a more realistic texture and feeling, not the kind of image that necessarily would benefit from the greater clarity of HD. But Warners appear to be transferring all of their new releases to HD-DVD, so who am I to question. The movie itself is certainly worthy of the best treatment, and when I watched it at home, the high definition made it look a whole lot better than I had remembered it from the big screen.
The movie itself is a kind of throwback to the politically charged films of the 1970s. In this case, it seems to be saying that there is no honor among thieves. Not if they're terrorists. Not if they're big oil companies. Not if they're CIA operatives. Not even if they're governments or government leaders. If there is any lesson the makers of 2005's "Syriana" want us to absorb, it is that we should trust no one where power and money are concerned.
"Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why we win." --Tim Blake Nelson, "Syriana"
"Syriana" is a political treatise posing as an espionage thriller, yet it is never preachy and never takes sides, except against corruption at all levels. What may put some viewers off is that it interweaves a number of characters and stories that only come together at the end, making the narrative hard to follow, especially in the first hour. And then it gets worse. Yet none of its complexities matter since it is the basic thread of the story that always comes through, and its various parts are fascinating while they're unfolding. In other words, I wouldn't worry too much if you get a little lost as I did the first time through; you'll have gotten the basic story idea by the time it's over.
The name "Syriana" is fictional and, in fact, the movie never mentions it. The word is a "portmanteau...two meanings packed up into one word" as Lewis Carroll described it. I suppose the title is supposed to remind us of the Middle Eastern region of Syria and Iran and everything in between and around them.
Since the filmmakers divide the movie into several different stories that only come together at the finish, expect a bevy of different actors involved in them. Among the most prominent is George Clooney as a CIA operative. Just don't expect him to be a typical celluloid superspy. In the first of three (or four; who's counting?) separate stories, Clooney plays veteran espionage agent Bob Barnes, who in the movie's beginning completes a mission to foil some Mideastern arms dealers but loses a missile in the process. Barnes is a government man all the way, a career agent who has never questioned what he's been told to do. Until now. Losing the missile bothers him, yet it doesn't bother his superiors, who tell him essentially to forget about it. He can't, and he pursues the subject with an interest he has never taken before. When he finally gets into trouble by questioning too much, the Agency tries first to kick him upstairs and later hangs him out to dry. Clooney, incidentally, maintains the weight he put on for this film and "Good Night, and Good Luck" the same year, making him look anything but a svelte, muscular, athletic James Bond. He looks like an ordinary guy, and dresses like somebody going to work at a bowling alley. His nuanced performance won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
The next interwoven story involves Matt Damon as Brian Woodman, a partner in an energy trading company and an expert oil-industry analyst who goes to work as the economic advisor for a Mideastern prince, a prince who is himself in a power struggle with his brother for control of his country and its oil assets. Damon is like a lost babe in the woods, never quite knowing what he's gotten himself into until it's too late.
In yet another story we see a young Pakistani man, Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir), recruited into a terrorist organization. He is poor, out of work, disillusioned, mistreated, and frustrated, just the sort of fellow who might be subject to persuasion. We see his life going downhill, his subsequent terrorist indoctrination and training, and his eventual interaction in the movie's plot.
The final story intertwining itself throughout the others concerns the machinations of big business and big oil, with Christopher Plummer as the powerful head of a law firm that manipulates everyone and everything, including governments; Jeffrey Wright as the point man for the law firm; and Chris Cooper and Tim Blake Nelson as oil honchos in the midst of a merger that will make their company and another one into a corporation with assets bigger than the state of Denmark.
The settings take us from the deserts of Iran to the waters of the Persian Gulf, from the swank houses of Georgetown to the oil fields of Texas. Like the stories told there, the movie deftly weaves these settings into the fabric of the narrative, lending it texture and believability. With the incorporation of some documentary-style filming in places and some top-notch acting that wholly serves the needs of the action and not the actors, you get a darn good film.
