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Director: |
Stephen Gaghan |
Writer: |
Stephen Gaghan |
Starring: |
George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper |
Released: |
February 16, 2006 |
Rating: |
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Runtime: |
123 minutes
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Websites: |
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Story: |
From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy
Award for Traffic, comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against
the intrigues and corruption 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.
The intrigue takes place against the backdrop of an oil-producing Gulf country,
where young, charismatic and reform-minded Prince Nasir is seeking to change
long-established relationships with U.S. business interests. Nasir, the
apparent heir to the throne, has just granted natural gas drilling rights -
long held by Connex, a Texas energy giant - to a higher Chinese bid. This is a
huge blow to Connex and American business interests in the region. Killen, a
smaller Texas oil company owned by Jimmy Pope, has just won the very
competitive drilling rights to coveted fields in Kazakhstan. This makes Killen
very attractive to Connex, who now needs new territory to maintain its
production capacity. When the two companies merge, the pending deal attracts
the scrutiny of the Justice Dept., and Sloan Whiting, a powerful white-shoe
Washington law firm, is brought in to perform due diligence.
Bob Barnes is a veteran CIA agent nearing the end of a long and respectable
career, with a son headed for college and the possibility of spending the
latter days of his service in a cushy desk job. A devoted company man, Bob's
always been a true believer that his work benefits his government and makes
his country a safer place.
In Bob's last assignment, an assassination of two arms dealers in Tehran, a
Stinger missile falls into the hands of a mysterious blue-eyed Egyptian. On
his return to Washington, Bob is promised a promotion after one last undercover
mission - assassinating Prince Nasir. But when one of his field contacts turns
on him and the assassination attempt goes terribly awry, Bob is scapegoated by
the CIA, betrayed by the organization to which he has devoted his life. As he
searches to understand what has happened, he begins to realize that he has been
lied to - used as a pawn and never privy to the real motivation for the
assignments he has blindly carried out for years.
Bennett Holiday is an ambitious Washington attorney at Sloan Whiting, in charge
of the delicate task of guiding the Connex-Killen merger through the deep
waters of D.C. He needs to give the Justice Department enough material to make
their case against Killen for its shady dealings in Kazakhstan without
jeopardizing the entire deal. It's in the company and the country's interest
that the merger go through. It also serves Bennett's ambitions - ambitions
fueled by a father he is constantly at odds with.
Energy analyst Bryan Woodman is a rising star at an Energy Trading Company,
living with his wife Julie and their two young sons in Geneva. When he attends
a party thrown by Prince Nasir’s family, a tragic accident results in the
death of Bryan's young son. Nasir attempts to make amends for what happened,
offering Bryan a business opportunity to help the young leader realize his
reformist ideas - an opportunity Bryan embraces, to the dismay of his grieving
wife.
Dean Whiting, Bennett’s boss, the head of Sloan Whiting and one of the most
powerful men in Washington, is trying to undo Nasir's deal with the Chinese.
He knows that Nasir’s younger, more callow brother, Prince Meshal, will be
more amenable to American business interests and he pressures the aging Emir
to choose his younger son to succeed him, effectively engineering Nasir's
political demise.
At the other end of the wage scale in Nasir's country are the migrant laborers
toiling in its energy fields, whose lives are directly and drastically affected
by the royal family's policies and the vagaries of the industry. Connex workers
Saleem Ahmed Kahn and his son Wasim have just been laid off from their jobs in
the fields when the Chinese take them over, and their future becomes
increasingly uncertain as they search in vain for work before their visas run
out. Saleem dreams of someday returning to Pakistan; his son hopes for a better
life but quickly becomes disillusioned and angry at the way he and his father
are treated as immigrant workers in the Gulf. Wasim and his friend Farooq find
solace at the local madrassa, a place where they are treated with dignity in an
otherwise bleak and unfamiliar world. At the madrassa, Wasim and Farooq are
taken under the wing of a charismatic and dangerous recruiter - the blue-eyed
Egyptian with the missing Stinger missile.
Sheiks and field workers, government inspectors and international spies, rich
and poor, the famous and infamous - each plays their small part in the vast and
complex system that powers the industry, none realizing the true extent of the
explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.
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Cast: |
Kayvan Novak
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Arash |
George Clooney
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Bob Barnes |
Amr Waked
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Mohammed Sheik Agiza |
Christopher Plummer
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Dean Whiting |
Jeffrey Wright
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Bennett Holiday |
Chris Cooper
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Jimmy Pope |
Robert Foxworth
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Tommy Barton |
Nicky Henson
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Sydney Hewitt |
Nicholas Art
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Riley Woodman |
Matt Damon
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Bryan Woodman |
Amanda Peet
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Julie Woodman |
Steven Hinkle
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Max Woodman |
Daisy Torme
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Rebecca |
Peter Gerety
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Leland Janus |
Richard Lintern
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Bryan's Boss |
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