If you check the review comparison on the guardian online you can see that most of Britain’s newspapers are giving it an 8/10, and with the Sun, FT, Daily Telegraph and the Express these pundits are from the conservative spectrum. On the other hand, The Guardian and The Independent give rather weak marks, which is surprising for this demanding and brave political project.
To say it straight away: I think it’s a great polit-thriller and cannot wait until it’s released on DVD. What makes it refreshingly different from the recent name-and-shame yet valid celluloid attacks from the left-wing a la 9/11 Fahrenheit and The Corporation is it’s lack of accusing Bush and his cronies, or neo-cons in general. The cast is top-notch with many familiar faces to make following the plot at least possible.
What makes it so compelling in my view, is that Clooney & Co. try to make patterns transparent, but they don’t really succeed - and that is exactly the winning momentum. Because the global system dynamics of oil, money, politics, corruption and consumption is too complex even for well-informed people to be fully understood and digested - and that’s why it’s lack a dominating character, but makes a realistic assessment of rather structural leadership and systematic corruption.
After 2.5 hours in the comfy leather sofa of my favorite London Cinema in affluent Notting Hill, an eerie feeling is creeping up my mind: as long as you, I and we all together, drive cars, use plastic bags and all other things made of oil, there will be corruption (official and unofficial) and terrorist attacks (by islamist groups as well as intelligence agencies).
While watching the credits, I compared the movie’s quintessence (delivered by the career-hungry attorney) to that of the principal-agent model of modern corporations: In Syriana, we the consumers are the principals, and we mandate the politicians, the boards, the middlemen and everybody else involved to be the agents that act on our behalf, and that is to provide us with abundant supply. And that is often high-risk, politically and economically as well as personally. So the characters want the respective reward according to another grand model called Risk equals reward. And how do the participants try and cut out their slice of the pie? Correct, through corruption! And why? Unless we revoke our vote, it will not change because the incentive is too low. The corrupt analyst made 80 millions...and got away with it!
And that is a striking point, but it seems to be too disillusioning for some liberal critics. Of course I want those people being put to jail, but it’s the way this unbundled globalized economy works - until we change it...through a new mandate.
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