Syriana

This is a very well-made movie, written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar winning screenwriter of Traffic. Like that movie, Syriana is composed of several interconnected stories all centered around the social, political, and business events surrounding an oil deal in the Middle East. The story is a bit hard to follow - it's difficult to determine who's working for who, and who wants what. But I think this was intentional, because the allegiances of the characters are constantly changing in the movie. And also the movie never gets preachy, never takes a strong political or moral stand. All the characters have good intentions, along with other motives that are more questionable. In that sense, it's true to life.

The movie has that pseudo-documentary feel that we saw in Traffic. I almost wonder if the movie would have been more powerful with all unknown actors, so that we really would get that illusion of reality. As it is, whenever George Clooney or Matt Damon pop up on the screen, it's pretty obvious it's a movie. But I think when you have a chance to work with two great actors like that, you take it. I thought this movie would be a George Clooney star vehicle, but it is not. He has a prominent role, but it is truly an ensemble cast, and a good one. In particular I like Alexander Siddig (who I first saw in Kingdom of Heaven) as the idealistic Prince Nasir, fighting to bring democracy and improved human rights to his country. The fact that the CIA is trying to unseat him because he will not allow the U.S. to build military bases in the country, is perhaps the single clearest injustice portrayed in the film.

But the real star of the movie is the Middle East itself, this dangerous land of prayer, oil, sand, and blood. We read all the news stories, but the environment pictured on the screen seems so foreign to our way of life here. But the movie does a great job of showing common threads that run through both cultures - love of family, young people trying to find jobs, good people and bad people.