Syriana (2005)

Syriana to oil is like Traffic, other Stephen Gaghan’s movie, to drugs. With multiple storylines taking place in global context, Tehran, Washington DC, Houston, Geneva and Beirut, this movie tries to illustrate the complex dark picture of oil politics. This is not a bad movie. It is a good movie that cannot be more relevant to current issue. Very timely with a good plot. However, it’s not a great movie either. The real problem is that the movie tries to capture too many stories.

A CIA agent who is trapped in a political conspiracy, an energy analyst whom after the family tragedy found his redemption by partnering with an idealist Middle Eastern Prince, a Pakistani boy who joined a radical fundamentalist group after being laid off from an oil company, a descent lawyer who got squeezed in the merge between two big oil companies. In the end, each story lost its weight. Dull. Also the movie’s slow pace, makes no character has time and space to develop. Even George Clooney couldn’t show real spark.

The story about two bombers (especially one Pakistani one, Wasim) managed to steal my attention. In fact, Wasim is the only character that moved me; even brought me into tears. However, not enough scenes and time span devoted to it, not as much I had hoped.

Anyway, all in all, despite its weaknesses, the movie has a good intention. I like how the global politics of oil is located in the nexus of individuals, some of whom might not even realize that they are in involved in such politics.

3.5/5.0