This afternoon I went out with my friend Steve and his wife Monique to see the movie Syriana. What an amazing show. So often with political thrillers they dumb the story down to nothing more than a glorified spy novel. Syriana embraces the complexity of the corporate and political world and brings it to the screen like no other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s about the USA’s over-reliance on foreign oil, and the morally corrupt situation in which the country has found itself.
Having said that, I should also say that I don’t know a lot of people that I could really give as high of a recommendation for this movie as it deserves. The characters spread out over several seemingly unconnected narrative threads in addition to numerous countries and ideologies. It can get pretty complicated pretty fast if you’re not up-to-date on the depth and scope of the topic. Frankly I’m guessing a lot of people may feel like a hopelessly lost student unable to follow the lecture of a seasoned professor who understands his topic so well, he has a hard time teaching it to beginners.
Which is exactly why I loved this movie. If you watch the Syriana movie trailer and decide you want to see it, I think it will probably surprise you; it’s not typical Hollywood fluff. My friends thought it was “okay” but I think they were both a little disappointed in it.
Roger Ebert gives a great perspective on Syriana.