Product Description

Big oil means big money. Very big money. And that fact unleashes corruption that stretches from Houston to Washington to the Mideast ? and ensnares industrialists, princes, spies, politicos, oilfield laborers and terrorists in a deadly, deceptive web of move and
countermove. This lightning-paced, whip-smart action thriller grips your mind and nerves with an intensity that doesn't let go for an instant.
Running Time: 128 min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4781 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-06-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Arabic, English, French, Persian, Urdu
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 128 minutes

Amazon.com
Syriana is an oil-based soap opera set against the world of global oil cartels. It is to the oil industry as Traffic was to the drug trade (no surprise, since writer/director Stephen Gaghan wrote the screenplay to Traffic): a sprawling attempt to portray the vast political, business, social, and personal implications of a societal addiction, in this case, oil. A major merger between two of the world's largest oil companies reveals ethical dilemmas for the lawyer charged with making the deal (Jeffrey Wright), and major global implications beyond the obvious; a CIA operative (George Clooney) discovers the truth about his work, and the people he works for; a young oil broker (Matt Damon) encounters personal tragedy, then partners with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig) attempting to build a new economy for his people, only to find he's opposed by powers far beyond his control. Meanwhile, disenfranchised Pakistani youths are lured into terrorism by a radical Islamic cleric. And that's just the start. As in Traffic, in one way or another all of the characters' fates are tied to each other, whether they realize it or not, though the connections are sometimes tenuous. While Syriana is basically a good film with timely resonance, it can't quite seem to measure up to Gaghan's ambitious vision and it very nearly collapses under the weight of its many storylines. Fortunately they are resolved skillfully enough to keep the film from going under in the end. To some viewers, Syriana will seem like an unfocused and over-loaded film that goes, all at once, everywhere and nowhere. Others will find it to be an important work earnestly exploring major issues. In either case, it's a film that deserves to be taken seriously, and it's likely to be one that will be talked about for a long time to come. --Dan Vancini

Customer Reviews

Some history
I won't rehash the points already made here. I just want to make the following points:

- Wahhabist fundamentalism (the ideology followed by Al Quida) was created around 1750, long, long before there were any U.S. oil companies.

- The Muslim Brotherhood was created in the 1920s and also pre-dates oil exploitation in Saudi Arabia. The core of the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology is cultural, and anti-western, not economic. The founder of the brotherhood rejected almost all western norms. It was not about oil or economics.

- The 9/11 hijackers and most Islamic terrorists were not inpoverished young men, but rather, rich, well-off students who had every advantage and then some in life. The movie depicts them as exploited, which is very, very far from the truth.

- The real reason why the Arab economies are so backward (the Finnish company Nokia creates more wealth every year than the ENTIRE Arab world, if you exclude oil production !) is not because the U.S. oil companies want it that way, but rather, because the Arab followed the SOVIET model for so many years. By the way, that is the same reason why India remained so economically backward until about 1990 too, and you can't blame oil on that. The movie suggests that the reason why the Arab world is backward economically is due to U.S. exploitation, but the real reason is due to the Soviet model that was followed, of national ownership of assets, and state socialism.

- The movie shows the CIA blowing up a reform Arab politician. This is more than ridiculous and makes the movie ridiculous and almost unwatchable in my view. The CIA might be many things, but they don't blow up moderate Arab reformers, just because a big oil company wants them to.

Incredibly boring
This movie tried to be the "wall street" of the oil industry. In one scene a character makes a statement about corruption keeping the economy moving, and how important corruption was. All I could think of was the "greed is good" scene from Wall street. I was expecting much from this movie, waiting for something good to happen, and really it never did. I could care less about the characters so the ending was very ho hum for me. If it was based on true events it would be much more interesting.

Good movie...
Too bad HD DVD is getting faded out :( Good thing I got this video for like $10!

For the movie: It was a good movie, a little hard to follow but overall good.