Syriana

Stephen Gaghan’s Oscar® winning Syriana is  a complex thriller that looks at the influence of oil on global politics.  The plot is intricate and everything is connected -  so rather than butcher it and make the story confusing, I’m going to take  a summary straight from Participant’s website:

As a career CIA operative (George Clooney) begins to uncover the disturbing truth about the work he has devoted his life to, an up-and-coming oil broker (Matt Damon) faces an unimaginable family tragedy and finds redemption in his partnership with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig). A corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) faces a moral dilemma as he finesses the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies, while across the globe, a disenfranchised Pakistani teenager (Mazhar Munir) falls prey to the recruiting efforts of a charismatic cleric. Each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the industry, unaware of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

What makes the film amazing though is not any one specific point of the plot above but all of it being woven together in one story.   Most films only look at one aspect of issues but where Syriana stands out is that it looks at the big picture and doesn’t shy away from the fact that there is no easy solution.  And I think that complexity made the audience of Syriana want to help, made them want to create change.  As Time Magazine reported in their article entitled “Can a Film Change the World”:

After the 2005 release of Syriana, Clooney’s movie on the oil industry, the audience sent 8,000 e-mails to Congress.

Now that is pretty awesome!

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart to voice your opinion on our dependence on oil.

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