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Syriana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Syriana is a 2005 Academy Award-winning geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan. Syriana focuses on the influence of the oil industry, whose political, economic, legal, and social effects are experienced by a CIA operative (George Clooney), an energy analyst (Matt Damon), an attorney (Jeffrey Wright), and a young unemployed Pakistani migrant worker in an Arab, Persian Gulf country (Mazhar Munir). Syriana could also be a mix of Syria, and the ancient name for Afghanistan (Ariana). en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Syriana   (2031 words)

"Syriana" - Salon And, much as "Syriana" pretends not to have fl-and-white heroes and villains, it's obvious who the bad guys are: When Chris Cooper, at a meeting of bigwig executives, asks, "What is an emir, anyway?" he pronounces the word, in a slithery Texas drawl, "E-murr," as if he thinks it's some sort of exotic animal. In "Syriana," Clooney carries even more weight in his eyes than he does in his body: We see the way both duty and doubt weigh on him; he tells us a story that stretches far beyond the scope of Gaghan's overextended cleverness. Clooney is the soul of "Syriana," and his face is what you're left with long after the movie's obsessive plot details have sifted away. www.salon.com /ent/movies/review/2005/11/23/syriana/index.html   (912 words)

Syriana (2005): Reviews Syriana is the most challenging and uncompromising movie to come out of Hollywood in a long time. Syriana depicts a system so thoroughly and intractably rotten that the standard liberal how-you-can-make-a-difference solutions--being more conscientious about using electricity, getting a hybrid car, and so on--only look like so much spit in the face of an atomic fireball. Indeed, the point of Syriana appears to be that the whole lousy, corrupt, oil-producing and -consuming world is a ball of wax, ready to melt. www.metacritic.com /film/titles/syriana   (1964 words)

Syriana Though "Syriana" is expressly a work of fiction, it will no doubt be subjected to a round of pseudo-fact-checking, and its dark, conspiratorial view of the present and recent past is likely to be challenged, either because it is too complicated or not complicated enough. Syriana, written and directed in a fever of risk-taking provocation by Stephen Gaghan, takes off with the lightning speed of a thriller, the gonzo force of frontline journalism and the emotional wallop of a drama that puts a human face on shocking statistics. Syriana, which Clooney helped produce, may be the most audacious movie ever released by a Hollywood studio at a time of war: it traces the roots of Arab terrorism in the deserts of the Gulf back to the cold corridors of power in the heart of the American empire. www.christopher-plummer.com /syriana.html   (19265 words)

Pax Syriana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In the study of the international relations of the Middle East, Pax Syriana is used both to refer to Syria, and in other contexts as an arbitrary label for hypothetical countries with varying degrees of resemblance to Syria. It usually refers to the period from 1990 to April 2005 of reduced conflict within Lebanon being under the influence of Syrian hegemony and military occupation. From the movie's website [1]: "'Syriana' is a very real term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East...". en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Syriana_(politics)   (202 words)

TheMovieBoy Review - Syriana (2005) Like 2000's "Traffic," "Syriana" juggles a complex web of a plot and an expansive amount of characters and locations at the benefit of tackling a huge political subject that affects everyone in the world in one way or another. "Syriana" is nearly impossible to summarize for two reason: (1) because its scope is so encompassing, and (2) because writer-director Stephen Gaghan does an unsatisfactory job of laying out his admittedly provocative ideas in a way that will be accessible to the average viewer. The details may be murky, but "Syriana" is still worth recommending for adult audiences who don't make it a habit of paying ten dollars for a movie ticket only to have such a bad bladder that they have to go to the bathroom an hour into said movie. www.themovieboy.com /reviews/s/05_syriana.htm   (605 words)

calendarlive.com: MOVIE REVIEW - 'Syriana' Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, "Syriana" is a fearless and ambitious piece of work, made with equal parts passion and calculation, an unapologetically entertaining major studio release with compelling real-world relevance, a film that takes numerous risks and thrives on them all. What makes "Syriana" unusual, however, is not so much its plot complexities, which that summary barely hints at, but the way Gaghan and his team have taken daring pains to keep us in the dark by a strategy of obfuscation and willful withholding of information. For "Syriana" is a film that chooses consistently to place the audience one step behind the action, to in effect eliminate the kind of information-providing exposition that we can ordinarily count on. www.calendarlive.com /movies/turan/cl-et-syriana23nov23,0,7214793.story   (1215 words)

cbs5.com - 'Syriana' The effect may not be as sharp and street-level emotional as "Traffic," yet "Syriana" weaves powerful moments of pathos, compassion, and cross-cultural insight into its lesson on the realities of greed in international commerce. As "Traffic" did with drug smugglers and government enforcers, "Syriana" wanders among the shadowy parties that open or tighten the spigots on petroleum running to the refineries, from corporate board rooms to federal agencies to the palaces of Arab royalty. "Syriana," a Warner Bros. release, is rated R for violence and language. cbs5.com /moviereviews/movies_story_326010436.html   (718 words)

Syriana: About the Film While the book provided the initial impetus for Syriana, Baer’s experiences as a CIA field officer are what really served as a jumping-off point for the broader story that the filmmakers wanted to tell. We saw the potential for Syriana to be made in the fashion of the films of the mid-60s and early 70s that were willing to discuss the failures of government as if they were failures of all of us, not just a particular party or group.” Syriana is a fitting title for a film that could exist at any time and be about any set of circumstances that deal with man’s unchecked ambition, hubris, and the fantasy of empire.” syrianamovie.warnerbros.com /about.html   (1097 words)

Reviews: Syriana - Christianity Today Movies Syriana is partly inspired by See No Evil, the Robert Baer book that chronicles his experiences in the CIA with terrorism and the oil industry. Syriana is nevertheless interesting and worth watching, despite the fact that complete comprehension of the film seems just beyond the reach of the viewer. Syriana gives off the air of complexity and depth because it is, on the surface, confusing—characters enter and exit the story without much introduction or explanation about who they work for or what they're doing. www.christianitytoday.com /movies/reviews/syriana.html   (2028 words)

DVD / Video: Syriana [varsity.co.nz]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) Syriana weaves interconnected storylines about the oil industry in a way that is at times so dense and convoluted they seem less hyper-intelligent and more just, well hard to follow. Syriana demands every molecule of your attention; if you don’t want to get hopelessly lost you WILL keep your eyes and ears open. A much publicized fall to the ground when he was shooting a torture scene caused spinal fluid to leak into his brain, causing intense pain that necessitated major surgery. www.varsity.co.nz /movies/articles.asp?id=5271   (278 words)

Syriana (kottke.org) "Syriana" was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for best screenplay adaptation for "Traffic," another hyperlink movie. She suggests the structure was invented by Robert Altman, and Altman certainly brought it into modern times and made it particularly useful for showing interlocking stories in a world where lives seem to crash into each other heedlessly. Syriana is one of 278 movies reviewed on kottke.org. www.kottke.org /06/02/syriana   (1856 words)

HTF REVIEW: Syriana (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). - Home Theater Forum Syriana is guaranteed to cause a great deal of contention among viewers, as conservatives are sure to debate staunchly with liberals. Syriana is another new release title with limited special features – quite surprising, given the accolades the film was afforded. Syriana is a film, which at times is a difficult one to watch; not in the literal sense, but in the corrupt-establishment-offensive-corporate sense. www.hometheaterforum.com /htf/showthread.php?t=235868   (2318 words)

SYRIANA Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Traffic, Syriana follows three Americans in their various endeavors in and pertaining to the Middle East. Jeffrey Wright is an attorney investigating the merger between an enormous oil company and a smaller one with potentially lucrative rights to lay their pipe through a strategically located Arab country. Syriana, whose title comes from the dream name of a unified Arab state, is a dense undertaking that drops you in the middle of three unique, confusing situations, doesn’t give you much background about the characters or their motives, and leaves you wondering how (or if) the three threads will ever connect at any point. www.sick-boy.com /syriana.htm   (368 words)

Amazon.ca: Syriana (Widescreen): DVD: Stephen Gaghan,Kayvan Novak,George Clooney,Amr Waked,Christopher Plummer,Jeffrey ...   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) Syriana is an oil-based soap opera set against the world of global oil cartels. While Syriana is basically a good film with timely resonance, it can't quite seem to measure up to Gaghan's ambitious vision and it very nearly collapses under the weight of its many storylines. However, "Syriana" got me thinking: the assumption has been that President Bush has is beholden to the oil companies because they have bought him body and soul (not to mention that he tried to be an oil man once upon a time). www.amazon.ca /Syriana-Widescreen-Stephen-Gaghan/dp/B000F8O2M4   (1290 words)

Filmtracks: Syriana (Alexandre Desplat) Syriana: (Alexandre Desplat) As part of the modern renaissance of political corruption thrillers that is starting to seem awfully reminiscent of a similar emphasis in 1970's cinema, Syriana takes a broad look at the hopelessly corrupted international oil industry. Desplat's title theme is held closely to the vest, performed with heavy restraint by piano and only clearly evident in an extended sequence for the whole ensemble in the concluding "Fathers and Sons" cue. Thus, as a background listening experience, Syriana is difficult to appreciate, and as an accompaniment to the film, the score's lack of true suspense would seem curious. www.filmtracks.com /titles/syriana.html   (779 words)

filmthreat.com “Syriana” is the latest film from “Traffic” and “Alamo” scribe Stephen Gaghan, who also assumes the director’s chair to tell this story of big oil and Middle East politics. As in his previous “current events” effort (and if I may be allowed a small pun) Gaghan traffics in futility: specifically, the futility of fighting big business, the futility of attempting to bring reform to the entrenched monarchies of the Middle East, and the futility of placing much faith in your government. “Syriana” is a bleak and powerful movie, made all the more sobering by how much of it isn’t fiction. www.filmthreat.com /index.php?section=reviews&Id=8263   (700 words)

Syriana (2005)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) I haven't shoosh people in a movie theater in years but I did throughout "Syriana". The most compelling aspect is that I felt let into something and hear things I shouldn't. I was mesmerized by his self assuredness and although I didn't have any kind of emotional connection with "Syriana" whoever she or it is, I couldn't dismiss the experience so, well done, cinema comes in all shapes and flavors. www.imdb.com /title/tt0365737   (371 words)

Syriana Movie Review - Syriana Movie Trailer - The Boston Globe "Syriana," loosely based on former CIA agent Robert Baer's 2002 memoir "See No Evil," assumes the same storytelling model as "Traffic," only more ambitiously, with individual stories woven into a larger thesis. "Syriana" is big on lambs, ideally of the sacrificial sort -- even when they look like teddy bears, as a tubby and grizzled George Clooney does. Their young son drowns at a party for the emir, and this entire area of "Syriana" is meant to function as its emotional compass. www.boston.com /movies/display?display=movie&id=7022   (827 words)

Amazon.com: Syriana: Movie Showtimes: Stephen Gaghan,Kayvan Novak,George Clooney,Amr Waked,Christopher Plummer,Jeffrey ...   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) In Syriana, (star and executive producer), he blows the whistle on corruption in the oil biz. Syriana is long and plotless, instead of structure or character development there's a maelstrom of plot-ettes which occasionally bump into each other and say, "Excuse me." The cinematography is excellent, and it's fun to bounce from Langley to Beirut, Switzerland to luxury yachts in the Mediterranean. If nothing else, Syriana vividly reminds us that myopic greed is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate by race, religion, culture, gender, nationality, or any other artificial parameter people use to separate themselves from one another, and in so doing, sew the seeds of destruction for one and all. www.amazon.com /Syriana/dp/B00005JO04   (3474 words)

The Seattle Times: Movies: "Syriana" paints slick picture of corruption in oil industry Watch closely and listen carefully during "Syriana" because Stephen Gaghan's movie is that rarity: a thinking person's drama. Director of photography Robert Elswit (who's having a heck of a season; he recently shot the beautiful fl-and-white "Good Night, and Good Luck") finds an icy blue light for corporate conference rooms and a yellowish chill in the heat of the Persian Gulf, where monarchs and dealmakers drape themselves in blinding white. Ultimately, though, "Syriana" is a thriller, and its final scenes take on a tense suspense, as Alexandre Depslat's score shimmers alluringly in the background like a desert mirage. seattletimes.nwsource.com /html/movies/2002672591_syriana09.html   (607 words)

Syriana Movie Review at Hollywood Video   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) Ambitious to a fault, Stephen Gaghan's geopolitical thriller Syriana is an alternately engrossing and confusing film stretched over far too broad a narrative canvas. Clooney is the revelation; there's no trace of his wry, self-mocking persona in the weary, impolitic Barnes, whose CIA bosses increasingly regard him as a loose cannon in the field. There are also Muslim activists on the terrorist-recruitment trail and corporate "players" (including Plummer and Chris Cooper) who are engaged in a war of their own. www.hollywoodvideo.com /movies/movie.aspx?MID=141184&LF=HP   (1571 words)

Syriana | movies : ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Syriana has a lot of big, important things to say about big, important things, and it says them with a sense of urgency. It's as earnestly, politically left-leaning as Jarhead is coyly apolitical; it's also the kind of movie that requires a viewer to work actively for comprehension, and to chalk up any lack of same to his or her own deficiency in the face of something so evidently smart. Syriana makes a point of circling the globe, with scenes shot in Geneva, Dubai, London, etc. — it's a picture that displays datelines as a show of geopolitical bustle. www.ew.com /ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1133637_1_0_,00.html   (763 words)

IGN: Syriana Review But as a dissertation on American foreign policy, much less the explosive cultural and political clashes currently going on in that region of the world, the new film really seems more to be preaching to the converted than educating the uninformed. Because there are few who enter this movie (at least among those who already know what it's about) who will not already have their minds made up about the situation, both on celluloid and in real-life - which makes for a dubious recommendation depending on which side of the debate your disposition falls. Overall, however, Syriana is indeed a brilliantly executed and evocative film; there are few movies released by major studios these days possessed with as much intelligence and purpose as Gaghan's. dvd.ign.com /articles/713/713619p1.html   (620 words)

Syriana The characters in Syriana use the f-word most frequently (there are at least 20 instances), but also use the s-word (close to a half-dozen times), take Christ's name in vain a handful of times and say "g--d--n" three times. Syriana offers a bleak yet eye-opening look (albeit from one director's perspective) at how countries and corporations are determined to protect their oil interests. Like other recent films that implicate government and business in ruthless, unethical and illegal behavior (The Constant Gardner, Lord of War), Syriana will cause those who see it to ask, "Is it really that bad?" I can't answer that question. www.pluggedinonline.com /movies/movies/a0002448.cfm   (1112 words)

Metromix. Movie review: 'Syriana' That one was about drugs; "Syriana" concerns oil, connecting some far-flung dots spanning the globe, from oil man to energy analyst to C.I.A. operative to Pakistan-born suicide bomber. Not "Syriana." Here, Barnes's story--in which he is bamboozled by his own people and tortured by others--slips in and out of the other narratives. And "Syriana" is the first major studio film to figure out how to make a suicide bomber live and breathe on screen without turning him into a monster or a martyr, but simply a man out of a job in an oil-slicked global economy. metromix.chicagotribune.com /movies/mmx-0501208-movies-review-syriana,0,858013.story?coll=mmx-movies_leftutility   (937 words)

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