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West's hands
soaked in blood and in oil
SYRIANA - Directed by Stephen Gaghan
Certificate 15
ADDING on about two stone and a salt-and-pepper beard,
George Clooney’s (pictured) portrayal of Bob Barnes, a
CIA man weary of the road, has earned him an Oscar nomination
for Best Supporting Actor.
Au fait with places like Beirut and Tehran, Bob is a clued-up
guy whose favourite response to what he does or what he knows
is typically to say the whole thing is complicated.
Syriana, the new film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan
– the writer of Traffic – is difficult to follow in
its machinations. Adapted from the book by true-life CIA operative
Robert Baer, its aim goes far beyond that of A Bourne Identity
in its scope and impact.
Syriana feels real as it takes us through the corridors of power,
showing us the influence of money, corruption and deceit. This
is not a film to which you should watch with someone with a
short attention span – or someone who doesn’t understand
that every whisper, every gesture in this deft, subtle film,
is redolent with import.
Syriana won’t spell out to the audience what is happening
– it is far too smart for that. Once in the swing of its
narrative, however, this geopolitical thriller is thrilling
entertainment indeed, sweeping us from Washington to the Middle
East, to torture chambers and chic luncheons, all in pursuit
of a kind of truth.
The world is sorted into one huge conspiracy to control the
global supply of crude oil and so to amass enormous control
over the majority of the world’s population. The mesh presented
by Gaghan of power, intelligence, jostling for position and
currying favour may not be linear – indeed, if you walk
out to get popcorn, you may return to think the mesh is more
of a mess – but it is compelling, exciting cinema.
Its four major plots include Bob’s attempt to define his
career at a point where he is almost too knowledgeable to be
useful anymore; Bennet Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is asked by
his law firm to check out a merger between two US oil companies
while Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) has to advise a prince on his
attempt to succeed his father.
Beneath this luxurious Western world, we see how an impressionable
Pakistani teenager called Wasim (Mazhar Munir) finds shelter
in Islam and adopts its more radical side to escape an otherwise
dead-end world of migrant work and abuse in the oil fields.
Written with flair and sympathy, none of these characters are
free of flaws yet we see each viewpoint with clarity and balance.
Directed in a detached way in an attempt to achieve some sense
of objectivity, Syriana pivots on its confidence and in its
actors, with some fine supporting performances by a wide range
of well-known faces such as Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper
and Amanda Peet. A must-see film for this week. |
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