Spoiler alert: proceed with caution.
Stephen Gaghan's Syriana
In Syriana writer-director Stephen Gaghan contrives a situation in which the machinations of the CIA, a couple of American oil companies, the U.S. Department of Justice, and a large American corporate law firm culminate in the assassination of a fictional Persian Gulf state prince. The prince is working with an idealistic American energy analyst located in Switzerland to democratize the principality's oil industry in the teeth of his decadent brother who is, unfortunately, heir to the throne. Gaghan doesn't explain why any arm of the U.S. government would want to take out a native champion of democracy in the region. (The implicit premise must be that everything the government now says it's doing there is a lie.) Nor does he explain why oil companies wouldn't prefer democratic ownership of the oil in Arab hands. 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.
Gaghan doesn't explain much of anything in Syriana, yet the movie gives you the impression that, although you may not be able to follow the complicated plotting, it has explained everything to do with politics and the oil business in the Middle East. (There's a relatively clear synopsis of the various storylines at the film's official website, but I don't think it will change your experience of the movie, even if you read it first.) The storytelling in Syriana is as murky as in Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep (1946), except that there's more at stake here, e.g., the audience's belief in the good faith of the American government. I'm pretty sure Gaghan himself wouldn't want to be convicted on an equally veiled and disorganized presentation of "evidence." His movie is "weighty" yet vaporous, like a metal in a volatilized state—a big sun-blotting cloud of what Hollywood calls "ideas."
All the same, Gaghan brings an enormous amount of narrative energy to the project. His script has enough characters and cross-purposes for a modern-day King Lear (it even has royalty), but he seems unaware of how remote and uninvolving they remain. Syriana is what King Lear would be if it were a checklist of the dangers attending succession in Nth-century England and not a poetic tragedy. Syriana certainly is not tragic: both the noble prince and the CIA agent played by George Clooney, who senses what's afoot and tries, ineffectually, to stop it, are victims rather than tragic heroes. And Gaghan's mood is far from the hallmark speculativeness of tragedy; he's entirely too sure he knows what makes things turn out badly in this world. Exactly how the good guys are victimized remains so obscure, however, that the movie can't even function as melodrama, though that's the order of Gaghan's political thinking—i.e., there are big-and-I-mean-big, source-of-all-evil villains among us and the good guys can't do anything against their missiles.
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.
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Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
Forgive me if this sounds flippant, Alan, but...what movies/performances did you LIKE this year?
2 - Alan Dale
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
3 - Hugh Fink
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
4 - Wakeup Man
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!"?
5 - Alan Dale
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.
6 - Alan Dale
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?