What's so great about SYRIANA?

For my money, this is truly the best film of the past year. Why? Let's compare it to Munich, thought by others--delusionally, I'm afraid--to be the best of 2005.

Syriana: has a feel of absolute authenticity; is well-acted and photographed; has quiet, well-filmed cinematic moments (the weapon-tipped boat bearing down in near-silence on the large ship is masterful); weaves at least five disparate plot-lines into one powerful, cohesive message; has George Clooney in a terrific Oscar-winning performance; and, finally, leaves one wondering what the priorities of our nation are, and perhaps what they should be. It's really resonant.

Munich: the drama feels exceptionally contrived, bearing the distracting mark of the screenwriter; lacks authenticity in its approach, except in the Munich Olympic scenes; contains truly odd plot/visual choices in some of its scenes (especially some of the weird sexual stuff with Avner and his wife making love while he imagines the Munich massacre--a very bizarre thing to do) which I feel take the viewer out of the picture; the photography is gimmicky and distracting; the experience left me without resonance of almost any kind except that of disappointment.

The usual knock against Syriana is its plotting--too confusing! some say. What's going on? ask others.

But I found it reasonably easy to figure out (as did my wife), and here it is:

There's a country in the Middle East where two princes are fighting for future control after their elderly father steps down. One is well-equipped for the role, desiring democracy and independence from Western business influences; the other is a "playboy" type who is unambitious, wishing to maintain the status quo and go along with Western and U.S. interests.

On the American side, two large oil companies are merging, but before that can happen, the Justice Department investigates an oil contract that was just signed. Money apparently exchanged hands in order for that contract to be sealed, and the lawyer looking into it is "forced" to give up two upper-level oil company employees before the US Govt is satisfied and will approve the merger.

In the Middle East, the merger forces a reorganization that causes many young workers to lose their jobs. They are recruited into an Islamic school that gives them room, board, and emotional support, but this gradually erodes their moral beliefs, turning them into fanatics. Two of the young men become suicide bombers, planning to pilot a boat equipped with an advanced weapon and destroy a large ship in a nearby harbor.

Meanwhile, that weapon was procured during a deal CIA agent George Clooney made earlier in the film. Clooney was working undercover in a sting-assassination operation, but while he sold two of these weapons to his targets, eventually killing them, one of the weapons was moved out before it could be destroyed or accounted for. This weapon becomes the one to be used in the suicide-boat plan.

After that initial event, Clooney is sent on a mission to try and take down the well-educated and -qualified Prince that wishes to turn his country into a democracy--you see, his brother is the one with U.S. favor since he does not want independence from the West. Clooney is double-crossed by an old contact who is now an Islamic jihaddist; he is tortured, leaving the Middle East somewhat in disgrace, and his CIA superiors decide to expose and demote him to save face. Clooney's passport is taken and he becomes the fall-guy for the missing weapon and the failure of his last mission. He soon realizes that the Prince wishing democracy will be killed; his disenchantment with the CIA and U.S. aims in the region causes him to try and stop that event.

Allied with the targeted Prince is Matt Damon, a rather idealistic man who has now become the Prince's economic advisor after a tragic event obligates the Prince to repay Damon (and Damon's Geneva-based firm) in some manner. By his association with the Prince, however, the increasingly cynical and profit-minded Damon has placed himself unknowingly in great danger.

I won't reveal whether the Prince is killed, or Damon's character survives, or if Clooney stops the American-sponsored assassination of the Prince, or whether the suicide-boat bombers succeed in their mission--that's for you to see for yourself.

But I will reveal this: it's utterly compelling viewing. Don't get overly concerned about every little nuance of plot, or wondering overly-much about who is this guy?, or who is that guy? Just go along for the ride--everything comes clear in time. And the ride is an unusually interesting, thrilling one.

Directed and written by Stephen Gaghan (the real mastermind behind another film that was the finest of its year, Traffic, which also should have won Best Picture), Syriana raises some real issues about America's priorities and involvement in the Middle East, and whether, in the long-term, they're more detrimental than helpful. But it's not political in the blue-state/red-state sense, as some "message pictures" are. It's not preachy at all, helped out by its documentary-like feel, playing out objectively without the dreaded "mark of the screenwriter" contrivances that so plagued Munich.

It's intelligent, superior film-making for adults and thinking persons. Please check it out--we need more films like this as opposed to American Pie: Band-Camp. In a year filled with some perfectly dreadful, profit-motivated efforts, Syriana is a cinematic oasis in the film desert.