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George Clooney,
George Clooney,
Matt Damon,
more...
:
Stephen Gaghan,
Stephen Gaghan
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Warner Home Video
: Suspense/Thriller, Political Thriller
: 128 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
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Oil drives greed in Oscar-winning Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's labyrinthine sophomore directorial effort that traces the corruption of the global oil industry from the backrooms of Washington, D.C., to the petroleum-rich fields of the Middle East. Based in part on the writings of former CIA case officer Robert Baer, Syriana combines multiple storylines to explore the complexities that befall a proposed merger between two U.S. oil giants. Reform-minded Gulf country prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig) is in favor of making his nation more self-sufficient rather than U.S.-reliant, and his money-minded Western connections couldn't be less pleased. Before settling into a cushy desk job for the remainder of his career, CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is sent on one last assignment -- to assassinate Prince Nasir and reinstate U.S. ties in the oil-rich region. Though his loyalty dictates that Barnes carry out his current mission despite lingering doubts of a previous blunder, his mission goes horribly awry when his field contact goes turncoat and Barnes becomes a CIA scapegoat. Meanwhile, up-and-coming Washington attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) attempts to walk a fine line in overseeing a tenuous merger between two oil giants that's plagued with shady business dealings. Hotshot energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) is in talks to form a lucrative partnership with Prince Nasir, though the death of his son during a party at the prince's estate makes him question his loyalty to business over family. Back in Washington, D.C., Bennet's boss Dean Whiting attempts to undermine Prince Nasir's attempts to make his country less reliant on the U.S. dollar by planting the seeds of dissonance between the progressive prince and his money-minded younger brother Prince Meshal (Akbar Kurtha). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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| Spot On
by ChefCFP
September 25, 2006 - 9:29 AM PDT
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1 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| Syriana is what "Crash" could have been if it was done 25 years earlier- a snapshot of what was happening from many different perspectives, but that perhaps can't be detected if you aren't aware of the simultaneous actions. I remember reading the critiques when this movie first came out all saying that it was confusing, and you can't follow the storylines, but anyone who reads a good newspaper everyday will see that none of this is farfetched, the stories are all culled from current events, and they are all parts of one story. Every high school student should see this, hopefully after a history lesson of how the CIA manipulated the Shah to overthrow his own father as well as Iranian nationalists trying to protect their own oil interests (would the US give control of any of our oil fields to a foreign country?? yet we refuse to allow other nations to control their own resources). |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.76)
166 Votes
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