Ambitious statement from writer-director Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) about the ongoing clash between America's oil companies and the Middle East. Gaghan's film incorporates multiple story lines which he is only barely able to hold together in his portrait of what is now called "The Clash of Civilizations," but the film's incoherence may in fact be its strength, as Gaghan correctly refuses to provide simple answers about the oil companies, the US government, and Islamic fundamentalism. He forces the viewer to immerse himself in a chaotic realm, a realm of greed, betrayal, and conflicting values. George Clooney gives probably his most likable performance to date as Bob Barnes, a CIA operative in Beirut who is captured and tortured, and then sold out by the government. Matt Damon is also good as a corporate analyst determined to make a splash off of a family tragedy with a Gulf prince, and Jeffrey Wright plays a corporate lawyer trying to aid the merger of two major oil companies. All of the acting is solid, and the footage of the Middle East is quite beautiful, yet it evokes the danger and uncertainty of the region. Syriana unfortunately suffers from largely poor and amateurish directing (Gaghan's first attempt at filming his script), employing I suppose a cinema verite mode of shaky cam, trying to recapture the feel of a documentary, but its only comes across as contrived and self-aggrandizing. Syriana is a triumph of content not form, and it is probably the most provocative and important Hollywood movie of the year.
