Susan Granger’s review of “Syriana” (Warner Bros.)
Writer/director Stephen Gaghan, an Oscar-winner for “Traffic,” believes that oil is the world’s crack addition and his political thriller – with its intrigues and corruption – delves into the price we, as a society, pay to sustain that habit. What’s best is that this movie really makes you think!
Bearded, bloated Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is a veteran CIA agent who’s estranged from his wife, alienated from his son and now scapegoated by the bureau to which he’s devoted his life. Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is an ambitious lawyer investigating the questionable merger of two oil companies. Bryan Woodsman (Matt Damon) is an energy analyst who becomes an advisor to idealistic Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig) whose oil-producing Persian Gulf nation has just made a lucrative deal with the Chinese. And teenage Wasim (Mazhar Munir) is a desperate Pakistani oil field worker who has been laid off due to the Chinese takeover. Each has his own perspective on terrorism and what’s happening in the global oil industry.
Inspired by “See No Evil,” the memoirs of ex-CIA agent Robert Bear, the story interweaves and interlocks so many diverse characters and complicated, yet parallel storylines that it’s challenging to keep them straight, but “Syriana” is a geographical term for the “hot spots” in the Middle East that are crucial to U.S. security. While Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer and Max Minghella make their mark in pivotal supporting roles, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Alexander Siddig are most memorable. And you’ll squirm through a gratuitously grisly fingernail-extracting torture scene. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Syriana” is a powerful 10, striking a resonating chord with the oil-connected news that unfolds every day.
