Review: Syriana

[yesthattom]

Syriana (watch the trailer) "A political thriller that unfolds against the intrigue of the global oil industry."

Loved it. A little confusing, like his previous movie Traffic, but very much made me think. Of course, a lot of what I was thinking was, "Yeah, I bet it's actually worse in real life."

Comments

[penk.livejournal.com]

I heard an interview with the writer and the directory on NPR. It's supposed to be confusing :) The idea is "This whole mess is NOT all related under a simple theme that culminates in shooting the bad guy at the end of the movie. Reality is not like that!"

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

The one person I've talked with who has seen the movie felt that there wasn't any main storyline or main characters - he felt that there didn't seem to be any protaganist or reason for most of what was happening.

More detail?

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I saw it, and it was very interesting. I'm fairly fascinated that not once were political ties with Israel mentioned.

I think lots of folks should go see it -- the 'Pakistani boys' plotline is a good way for us to realize that folks doing destructive terrorist-like actions are normal.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

It definitely has a plot. It may be just a little difficult to follow since it has 3. Reading this review before I went to see it helped:

Providing a synopsis of Syriana would be an exercise in futility. The film is too complex for that. Instead, I'll provide an encapsulation of the set-up. There are three major strands to the plot.

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/s/syriana.html

[cpj.livejournal.com]

I thought traffic was easier to follow. I mean, everybody understands the basics of drug trafficing. Nobody is 100% sure of the nuances of the oil trade industry.

For example, in drugs, you're not worried about futures or the commodities market.