SYRIANA

A complicated and intellectual film that sets out to make its audience aware of the corruption associated with the global oil business.

Director Stephen Gaghan (who also wrote the screen play for Traffic and received an Academy Award for it) skilfully displays the story of the global oil trade and Middle Eastern politics from multiple perspectives – the US government and the Middle Eastern oil suppliers, the CIA, terrorists, the foreign oil workers who keep the oil businesses running and big business that profits from the oil.

George Clooney’s CIA character, Bob Barnes, and the story are based on ex-CIA intelligence agent Robert Baer and his memoir See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism. Convincing performances from Matt Damon, Christopher Plummer and George Clooney, who gained 16kg in one month for his role, will keep you stuck to your seat until the very end.

Syriana is almost an oil version of the drug-themed Traffic. It will not disappoint, but it leaves you wanting more. It should have been extended to run another 30 minutes to allow the complex, multiple inter-connected story lines to fully mature and give them justice.

You should like this movie if you enjoyed: Traffic, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Usual Suspects.

– Cpl Andrew Hetherington.
Volume 11, No. 38, March 8, 2006

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