>>REVIEW
SYRIANA
STARRING George Clooney, Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Stephen Gaghan
Opens Friday, December 9
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When a film is quick to point out that it shares producers with another film, it’s often a smokescreen. Usually, producers are Hollywood bean counters whose concern with storytelling is limited to box office. But in the case of Syriana, the fact that the Oscar-winning producers of Traffic are on board is actually the most accurate cinematic shorthand.
With its sprawling narrative and ensemble cast telling a story of social significance, Syriana plays like a companion piece to Traffic. Admittedly writer-director Stephen Gaghan (who won his Oscar as Traffic’s screenwriter) doesn’t have as vivid a visual style as Steven Soderbergh (who serves as the film’s executive producer), but Gaghan brings a low-key subtlety to Syriana that belies the film’s A-list cast.
Based on Robert Baer’s book See No Evil, Syriana weaves several storylines to tell the story of terrorism and oil interests in the Middle East. At the core of the film are three seemingly unconnected men – a veteran CIA operative (George Clooney), whose work in Iran leaves him questioning his moral responsibilities; a U.S. economist living overseas (Matt Damon), who becomes financial advisor to the Prince of Iran; and an attorney (Jeffrey Wright) overseeing the merger of two American oil companies. The lives of these men and many others come into contact as Gaghan explores corruption, complicity and capitalism on the world stage.
While much has been made of Clooney’s 35-pound weight gain for this film, it should be noted that he has an equally impressive performance to match. And he’s not alone. Damon and Wright hold their own, and in a supporting cast that includes Chris Cooper, Christopher Plummer and William Hurt, the acting, though suitably low-key, is uniformly excellent.
Still, the success of this film owes much to Gaghan’s respect for not only the story he’s telling, but the audience he is telling it to. Nothing about Syriana feels false. In any other film a drowned child or an exploding car would be played for tearful melodrama or jarring suspense. Here, Gaghan shows only as much as he needs to tell the story. He carefully doles out plot points and character interaction in a way that most $50-million films don’t. There’s no spoon-feeding the audience and for that Gaghan should be commended.
With the far-flung locations and loose hand-held style, Syriana is also reminiscent of The Constant Gardener. This year, that film tried hard to be a cerebral and stylish thriller, but it got too caught up in its politics. Syriana has as much to say, if not more, but it’s the way that Gaghan says it that makes this film one of the best of 2005. |
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