Syriana

Wow, what a dense movie this was!

I saw this tonight and wasn't prepared for the movie to finish the way that it did. There was a slight buzz when the credits started to roll. I characterize it as the sound of an audience scratching their heads. My immediate reaction was "is that it!?" I wanted the director, Stephen Gaghan, to step in front of the screen and ask us if we had any questions. Still, the main characters in this movie (played by George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Jeffrey Wright) had somewhat recognizable character arcs. But I still won't fully understand Clooney's entire story without a second viewing.

The movie has been compared to "Traffic", the Steven Soderbergh movie about drugs. Mr. Gaghan was the screen writer for that movie, but I felt that "Traffic" is the more accessible of the two. Still, I recommend "Syriana".

(The final frames of the credits point to a website about our dependency on oil.)