"Syriana" is part of a recent trend in film: the political movie. After 9/11, it seemed like studios were afraid to put the camera lens upon the American government. Since the release of such movies as "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Manchurian Candidate," however, Hollywood's eye is back on the government and its policies. Now Stephen Gaghan, the writer of the Academy award-winning drug war epic "Traffic," has created a complex and ambitious political film in "Syriana."
Gaghan's "Traffic" is a pleasure to watch, with its numerous plot threads that slowly but effectively merge together into a satisfying conclusion. With an all-star cast and lavish budget, on paper, "Syriana" seems to be a worthy follow up. The film ultimately falters in its execution, though.
All the action in the film revolves around a merger between two oil companies. Gaghan uses this backdrop to portray the multiple dark sides of these institutions. At the highest level of the oil corporation, a lawyer, Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright), debates whether he should approve the shady merger between the two companies in exchange for personal wealth. At the lowest level is the narrative of a Pakistani oil rig worker who is swept up in an Islamic fundamentalist group that encourages martyrdom.
The U.S. government is depicted as a machine that looks out for its own interests with no regard for anyone else. Its pawn is Bob Barnes (George Clooney), a CIA agent and hit man who goes to the Middle East to clean up any messes. Here, that mess is Prince Nasir Al-Subaai (Alexander Siddig), who may not give the United States oil if he ascends the throne because of his country's own interests. Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) is the American economic adviser carried away by the prince's charisma.
These five stories make up the dominant layers of the film. Yes, it gets complicated. Too complicated, in fact, for there are dozens of characters and the viewer doesn't get to know any of them. The characters' motivations are left unexplained, and plot elements are completely dropped as the film progresses. Where "Traffic" succeeded as a tight, carefully-tuned story, "Syriana" fails.
A prime example of a character with unclear motivations is Bennett Holiday. He has an antagonistic relationship with his father, who is presented as a senile drunk. The audience is expected to fill in the rest of the details about their relationship. Yet the presence of his father seems to have little bearing on Bennett's decisions. If the film gave this relationship more time to develop, it could have had an emotional impact. As it stands, however, like many of the relationships in "Syriana," the audience has too little information to be emotionally invested in their struggles.
Gaghan also omits major plot points involving Damon's character, Bryan Woodman. After Woodman's son dies, he leaves his family to go to the Middle East. Throughout the film, he narrates his adventures to a woman who is not his wife. While this could have been fodder for a romantic liason, the audience never finds out who this woman is and Damon falls into a cookie-cutter happy ending.
Because of the huge cast of characters, Gaghan also relies on caricatures to lessen the amount of exposition needed. The slimy, oily executive played by Tim Blake Nelson is a stereotypical business tycoon, complete with Southern drawl and over the top gestures. When he says, "Corruption is why we win," it almost hurts.
But what makes "Syriana" most painful is that there is a great movie lying somewhere beneath the surface. If the director had gone with a simpler story, his film could have been far more effective. The two parallel stories of Clooney's state-sponsored terrorism and the Pakistani suicide bomber, both of which are enthralling to watch, are the most developed in the film.
As Bob Barnes, Clooney completely transforms himself into a portly world-weary agent slowly becoming suspicious of the institution he reveres. His performance gradually grows more and more frantic as his world begins to crumble around him. This is particularly well illustrated in an interrogation sequence, in which Clooney is brutally pummeled for information. The viewer is shocked to find that the protagonist doesn't have any real strength and looks ready to break at any moment. Out of all the characters in the film, Barnes' undoubtedly feels the most real.
The Pakistani teenager, meanwhile, transforms into an ideologue. By the end of the film, he has an utter belief in the terrorist actions which he is told to take part in. Instead of extreme Islam being portrayed as a dark philosophy, it is shown as a bright alternative to labor in the oil rigs.
It is at this point that Gaghan is the most controversial, taking something abhorred in western society and revealing how it could be considered a reasonable choice. The teenager, like Barnes, feels like an authentic person.
Throughout "Syriana," the tease of a great film lingers. Unfortunately, Gaghan was too set on following the "Traffic" formula. Because of this, the political thriller is bursting with underdeveloped characters and ideas that would be better presented in a 12-hour miniseries. Though based on an interesting premise, "Syriana" falls far from the mark.
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