Syriana

[ewx]

Syriana is a political thriller involving the Middle East and the oil industry consisting of several somewhat related subplots: an oil firm's legal struggles, an emirate's economic and succession questions and an oil analyst caught up in them, and a Pakistani migrant worker suffering the fallout of the manoeuvrings of the powerful. Less clearly tied to any one thread are American and Iranian spooks.

The film is very opaque, taking show-don't-tell to ridiculous extremes. My current plan is to watch it again, having read the Wikipedia plot outline, to see if I can get more sense out of it.

Comments

[the-local-echo.livejournal.com]

It was on offer on a transatlantic flight I took. Much as I like George Clooney, I passed on it because it looked like I wouldn't be able to make head or tail of it in such a distracting environment, and watched something mindless and colourful instead. I'd like to watch it properly one day.

[kjaneway.livejournal.com]

The film is very opaque...

Really? I though it was very clear... if desperately depressing.

[rmc28]

Indeed; Tony and I went to see it and had to go eat pizza afterward to recover our merry cheer. I think I was pregnant at the time, which meant the dead-child bit was particularly upsetting.

Something I remember was the multiple streams of information - you would have people having an important conversation while in the background tv/radio would be supplying other bits of information.

I don't think I can bear to watch it again, even though I think it was brilliantly done.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

It could be that it's more understandable if it isn't being talked over by people drinking wine.

But possibly not...

[ewx.livejournal.com]

It might have helped, yes, but even the earliest scenes were quite obscure and (assuming Wikipedia's plot summary is accurate) I guessed wrong about who had done what and why.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

It's still on my list of things to see.

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

It's sort of a political version of The Usual Suspects, in its own way.