Movie Review: Syriana and Munich: Fuel for "Thought"
Published February 27, 2006
If Gaghan had developed character for its own sake and not relied so heavily on his belief that he knows what's really going on around the shrinking globe, Syriana could have been heady, maybe even devastating. Part of the problem is that he intercuts among his roughed-out episodes in a surprisingly tasteful manner. Syriana is incendiary only by implication; the experience of sitting through it is actually lulling. It's the suavest of the political movies getting attention this awards season, but by the same stroke the least plugged-in to the audience.
Gaghan piles one storyline on another but is only interested in suggesting where they trend, working like a (cynical) editorialist who has made up a few examples to support his views. As a result, the movie isn't convincing as journalism, exalting as tragedy, stirring as romance, or exciting as melodrama. This is the same problem that made Gaghan's script for Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000) a non-starter. Both movies convey a couple hours' worth of gaudy, made-up bad news with bland objectivity; unfortunately for Syriana, Gaghan lacks Soderbergh's crisp talent as an editor.
The deadest spot of Syriana is the storyline involving the Pakistani boy working in the Arab oilfield who is laid off and becomes a terrorist. Gaghan treats his descent naturalistically, step by step, but so affectlessly that the movie gains nothing from having the episode acted out rather than merely cited as a statistic. It isn't just poetry that's missing, or moviemaking panache, but depth of conjecture. Hollywood movies about young Germans who became Nazis--The Mortal Storm (1940), Hitler's Children (1943), Tomorrow, the World! (1944), and later Swing Kids (1993)--are ludicrously overwrought, but Gaghan's birth-of-a-terrorist anecdote in Syriana doesn't make much of a case for the underwrought approach.
These anti-Nazi movies at least endow their deluded followers with moral agency: they choose to become saber-toothed sheep. For all the superficial naturalism, Gaghan treats the Pakistani boy anonymously, as one among millions prey to larger forces. He never gets inside what drives boys in that culture and of that class to make this decision. It's weird: Gaghan tries to get to us by showing the bad things that happen to individuals, but in his political scheme, as in his narrative approach, individuals don't matter. But his movie doesn't have enough force to convey an epic vision, either. Syriana is a very busy, and very confident, movie, and yet it feels fatally underimagined.
Steven Spielberg's Munich
How much you admire Steven Spielberg's Munich seems to be a function of whether you approach it as an action picture broadened to address a complex geopolitical situation, or as a complex geopolitical situation sized down to the dimensions of an action picture. If you approach it in the former way, then you may see it as "intelligent" and "sensitive." If you approach it in the latter way, you may not see it at all. The claim I don't think anyone can sustain on the movie's behalf is that the action-picture conventions, which Spielberg uses as a matter of course, in themselves bring out the nuances of the situation. Quite the contrary.
- Movie Review: Syriana and Munich: Fuel for "Thought"
- Published: February 27, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Action, Video: Drama, Video: Suspense and Mystery
- Writer: Alan Dale
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Hey Michael,
Thanks for the comment. There has been extraordinary unanimity among critics this year, which isolates an outlier like me even more than usual. To my mind, the critics, and the awards-givers, have been praising and honoring well-intentioned but mediocre movies on the basis of their subject matter rather than their artistry. Having seen the reputations of similar movies, such as The Life of Emile Zola (Best Picture 1937), Gentleman's Agreement (Best Picture 1947), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Best Picture Nominee 1967), and Gandhi (Best Picture 1982), slip into deserved eclipse, I expect the same for the current bumper crop, with the possible exception of Capote.
I realize this can make it seem as if I hate everything, or at least everything that other people like. To dispel that idea, I've posted below a list of my favorite movies and performances that appeared on U.S. screens in 2005, in descending order of preference. In addition, I've put an asterisk before the ones for which I published reviews. (Click here to find the individual reviews.) Note that these five categories comprise 15 different movie titles; the same five categories of Oscar nominations comprise 16 different titles. (I sometimes have more than five nominees, sometimes fewer, but the count is still 15 if you limit me to five in each category. Four titles (roughly 25%) appear on both my list and the Academy's.)
Picture
*Downfall Germany, d: Oliver Hirschbiegel
*Grizzly Man US, d: Werner Herzog
*Separate Lies UK, d: Julian Fellowes
*Pride & Prejudice UK, d: Joe Wright
Last Days US, d: Gus Van Sant
*Nobody Knows Japan, d: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Actor
*Tom Wilkinson Separate Lies
*Romain Duris The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Steve Carell The 40-Year-Old Virgin
*Joaquin Phoenix Walk the Line
Actress
*Joan Allen The Upside of Anger
*Sarah Silverman Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
Felicity Huffman Transamerica
*Emily Watson Separate Lies
*Lisa Kudrow Happy Endings
*Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice
Supporting Actor
Vince Vaughn Be Cool
*Mickey Rourke Sin City
*Frank Langella Good Night, and Good Luck.
*Bruno Ganz Downfall
*Matthew MacFadyen Pride & Prejudice
*Rupert Everett Separate Lies
Supporting Actress
*Maggie Gyllenhaal Happy Endings
*Linda Bassett Separate Lies
*Reese Witherspoon Walk the Line
*You Nobody Knows
*Juliane Köhler Downfall
Alan!
Only an irreverent Hoosier could write such witty reviews. I'm really pleased to have discovered your blog.
Also, I was sorry to hear the sad news about Spike-- my parents spoke with your mother recently. Your Dad was among my favorite people. I"ve fond memories of him and was always impressed with his hip sense of humor.
Meanwhile, hope all's going well with you and your career as a critic/corporate tax attorney.
All the best,
Hugh Fink
Dear Alan Dale:
I had to stop reading your commentary when you asked the following questions:
"Nor does he explain why oil companies wouldn't prefer democratic ownership of the oil in Arab hands."
Sorry but the answers to these questions are obvious to anyone with an ounce of education in geography. Did you not learn any of the metaphors the movie was telling you? If the US military/oil industrial complex had any interest whatsoever in democracy why are they perpetually attempting to destabilize democracies in favor of military dictatorships that support their oil interests. Sorry Alan but one has to say wake the f up already and smell what's going on. Now I use lower case "us" in quotes because the us government, military and corporations they are tied to are operating in the least interest of the American people. Why is the "us" trying to destabilize the democratically elected leader of Venezuela. Hint: it isn't because he helps his poor and indigenous people. Why does the "us" support the military dictatorships of Myanmar, Qatar and others? Why did the "us" harbor the dictator of the philippines in Honolulu until his death where his wife Imelda still lives a lavish life with all her shoes? Why did the "us" help the taliban rise to power, install the Shah in Iran over a formerly democratically elected government?
The reason is because freedom, democracy and justice is the LEAST thing these crooks are interested in. They are interested solely on who would be most "friendly" to their oil and profitable interests. I mean my wake up. This movie shows most viewers just how serious the situtation has gotten, how the military acts on behalf of the oil companies and how screwed the American people and the rest of the world are unless we wake up and do something about it.
Don't you remember Dalton in the movie screaming , "Corruption, corruption, corruption!"?
How is "geography" relevant? How does one "learn" from a "metaphor"?
My problem with the movie, which is the same as my problem with your comment, is that it's full of assumptions, slogans, and beliefs presented as information. The movie, at least, is suave enough to be insinuating. Your use of lower case "us," by contrast, is just silly. Present your evidence in an orderly and cogent manner--and make sure it's representative--and it will speak for itself.
By the way, the U.S. short-sightedly helped the Taliban to rise to power in order to combat the anti-democratic forces of the Stalinist Soviet government.
PS. If you had continued reading (as one pretty much has an intellectual obligation to do when one disagrees with an article), you would have read in the next sentence, "This 18 March 2003 Cato Institute article does offer such an explanation, but the point isn't what makes sense outside the movie's framework, but what makes sense inside it." Not only does this subsequent sentence provide a context (i.e., I'm talking primarily about narrative not geopolitics), but it provides a link to an article you might well agree with.
Why has political debate in this country turned into hysterical venting?
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/44186)
Forgive me if this sounds flippant, Alan, but...what movies/performances did you LIKE this year?