Syriana (2005)

George Clooney           Bob Barnes
Matt Damon               Bryan Woodman
Jeffrey Wright           Bennett Holiday
Chris Cooper             Jimmy Pope
William Hurt             Stan Goff
Tim Blake Nelson         Danny Dalton
Amanda Peet              Julie Woodman
Christopher Plummer      Dean Whiting
Alexander Siddig         Prince Nasir Al-Subaai
Max Minghella            Robby Barnes
William C. Mitchell      Bennett Holiday Sr.
Tom McCarthy             Fred Franks
Viola Davis              Marilyn Richards
Jayne Atkinson           CIA Division Chief
Nicky Henson             Sydney Hewitt
Robert Foxworth          Tommy Barton

Directed by:             Stephen Gaghan
Produced by:             George Clooney, Ben Cosgrove, Jeff Skoll


From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for 'Traffic,' 
comes 'Syriana,' a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigue of the global oil industry. 
From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the 
Persian Gulf, the film's multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of 
the fierce pursuit of wealth and power. As a career CIA operative (George Clooney) begins to uncover 
the disturbing truth about the work he has devoted his life to, an up-and-coming oil broker 
(Matt Damon) faces an unimaginable family tragedy and finds redemption in his partnership with an 
idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig). A corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) faces a moral dilemma 
as he finesses the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies, while across the globe, a 
disenfranchised Pakistani teenager (Mazhar Munir) falls prey to the recruiting efforts of a 
charismatic cleric. Each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the 
industry, unaware of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

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A missile disappears in Iran, but the CIA has other problems: the heir to an Emirate gives an oil 
contract to China, cutting out a US company that promptly fires its immigrant workers and merges with 
a small firm that has landed a Kazakhstani oil contract. The Department of Justice suspects bribery, 
and the oil company's law firm finds a scapegoat. The CIA also needs one when its plot to kill the 
Emir-apparent fails. Agent Bob Barnes, the fall guy, sorts out the double cross. An American 
economist parlays the death of his son into a contract to advise the sheik the CIA wants dead. The 
jobless Pakistanis join a fundamentalist group. All roads start and end in the oil fields.

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Swaddled in 30 extra pounds and a thick gray beard, George Clooney moves through his portion of 
"Syriana" with furrowed brow and a slow, careful gait. His character, Bob Barnes, is a not-unfamiliar 
type in the world of movie espionage: the weary, cynical C.I.A. operative on the brink of an attack 
of conscience. Bob, who has spent his career in cheerful spots like Beirut and Tehran, is the kind 
of guy who knows a lot more than he says, and who speaks in a low monotone, evading more questions 
than he answers. When pressed for information - by an aggressive government bureaucrat or by his 
impatient teenage son (Max Minghella) - his default response seems to be, "It's complicated." Quite 
so. "Syriana," written and directed by Stephen Gaghan (who also wrote "Traffic," its obvious 
precursor), is a movie that demands and rewards close attention. Loosely based on the memoirs of a 
C.I.A. veteran, Robert Baer, on whom Mr. Clooney's character is modeled, it aims to be a great deal 
more than a standard geopolitical thriller and thereby succeeds in being one of the best geopolitical 
thrillers in a very long time. Along with Mr. Baer's book "See No Evil," it assimilates a whole shelf 
of post-9/11 nonfiction and journalism, spinning a complex, intriguing narrative about oil, terrorism, 
money and power. Parsing its details requires a good deal of concentration: important information is 
conveyed through whispered conversations and sidelong glances, and you may sometimes wish for a chart 
diagraming all the patterns of influence, connection and coincidence. But the mental labor of figuring 
out just what is going on is part of what makes the film such a rich and entertaining experience.