Syriana (2005)

Directed by

Stephen Gaghan

Genre

drama film, political thriller film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 08m

Rated

R

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 1,506 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Multiple storylines follow CIA agents, oil executives, and politicians across the globe as they navigate the global oil industry and Middle East politics. The plot jumps between different characters whose paths eventually intersect around a major oil merger and its consequences.

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What happens

Syriana is a 2005 American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir See No Evil. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, and Mazhar Munir. Syriana was shot in 200 locations on five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film. As with Gaghan's screenplay for Traffic, Syriana uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping among locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon. The film received positive reviews from critics, and Clooney's performance was critically acclaimed, earning him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as British Academy Film Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Gaghan was nominated for an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay. As of April 20, 2006, the film had grossed a total of $50.8 million at the U.S. box office and $43.2 million internationally, for a total of $94 million. Gaghan changed the names of entities currently operating in the Middle East, while retaining their place in the story. Committee for the Liberation of Iran was based on an organization called Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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