Syriana
Syriana ★★★½ 2005 (R)
Gaghan once again uses multiple storylines to tackle a major social issue (after his excellent “Traffic”). This time he studies the interactions of foreign and U.S. governments, Wall Street, the CIA, energy companies, ordinary workers, and lawyers that control the flow of oil to consumers. Dense narrative follows a displaced oil field worker, corporate troubleshooting lawyer (Wright), an energy analyst (Damon) who suffers a tragic loss, a betrayed CIA operative (Clooney), an oil-rich prince (Siddiq), and a behind-the-scenes power broker (Plummer) as they maneuver to, intentionally or not, affect who controls the energy market, through backroom deals, terrorism (or the threat of it), and even less-pleasant methods. Well-done, if confusing film will generate discussion and reflection. 126m/C DVD, Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD . US George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, Akbar Kurtha, Max Minghella, David Clennon, Robert Foxworth, Mark Strong, Mazhar Munir, Khan Shadid Ahmed, William C. Mitchell, Dadral Sonnell; D: Stephen Gaghan; W: Stephen Gaghan; C: Robert Elswit; M: Alexandre Desplat, Cynthia Weil. Oscars ‘05: Support. Actor (Clooney); Golden Globes ‘06: Support. Actor (Clooney); Natl. Bd. of Review ‘05: Adapt. Screenplay.