REVIEW : Syriana

I'll freely admit that I didn't fully understand this film, but that was more to do with the fact I'd had a long day and this was a late showing than any real fault with the film.

As you may have heard, some of the cast of this film have come under fire (thankfully, only in figurative terms) for their involvement in this film, which seems a bit of an over-reaction to me, as the basic premise appears to be that people in business are often willing to ignore the law and human rights to make a profit, whether at a personal or corporate level. I can't really see why this suggestion would make some people get so angry (as, er, it's what's commonly known as a fact if you look at the history of the twentieth century), unless some people are particularly prickly because this film deals with corporate misbehaviour and governmental collusion in relation to oil. Though getting angry about that idea at the moment would be even more daft. So I don't understand that particular fuss.

Anyway, the film deals with the above, in a number of interweaving plotlines, where it's not always entirely clear what the nature of the characters' relationships may be - but in its way, this is quite pleasing, as it doesn't patronise you as a viewer by explaining everything to you as if you're simple, and you have to do a bit of work. Which is a nice change, really.

The quite impressive cast are good, and the dialogue, while a little exposition-heavy in places, is pretty solid. Not necessarily a fun film, and certainly not one I'd recommend to watch on a date, but certainly interesting, intelligent, and timely. I suspect it would repay repeated viewings (and not just because I was drifting in and out of consciousness at the end).