Stephen Gaghan Case

“Syriana,” written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, is a film that requires close attention from the viewer. There are four major storylines and five main characters including; Bob, Wasim, Prince Nasir, Bennett and Bryan. Not one of the characters seemed to have a clear conscience or a singular motive and throughout the movie I did not feel sorry for one particular character because each one had their own family and work problems, only they were in different parts of the world. Each individual turned to money, politics and power in order to escape from reality and gain personal happiness. This movie is a thriller about corruption and self-interest related to the oil industry.

In the film, the United States energy company named Connex is losing control of key Middle East oil fields in a society ruled by the al-Subaai family. Prince Nasir granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company which disturbed the US government and oil industry. Connex initiated a smaller company called Killen due to the decreased production capacity and the company re-named itself to Connex-Killen. A CIA agent named Bob Barnes is sent on one last mission, which is to kill Prince Nasir and restore U.S. ties in the oil-rich region. His mission goes terribly wrong when his field contact becomes an enemy and Barnes becomes a CIA scapegoat.

In the meantime, a rising lawyer in Washington named Bennett tries to supervise a weak union between two oil companies that is overwhelmed with secretive business dealings. Bryan is an energy analyst in the process of forming a well-paid partnership with Prince Nasir. During the movie, Bryan’s son is electrocuted during a party Prince Nasir held in Marbella, Spain. They failed to notice a crack in one of the swimming pool underwater lights. Out of compassion for the loss of his son, Prince Nasir awards Bryan company oil interests worth $175 million and he gradually becomes his economic advisor.

The final storyline involves Pakistani migrant workers Saleem and his son Wasim who planned to work at a Connex refinery, only to discover that they had been laid off due to a Chinese company outbidding Connex for the rights to run that facility. All of the workers were faced with the threat of poverty and deportation because the company provided food and lodging to their workers. Wasim searches for work but does not have much luck because he does not speak Arabic. Wasim and his friend join an Islamic school to learn the language. While the boys were playing soccer they met an appealing Islamic priest who ultimately leads them to carry out a suicide attack on a Connex-Killen tanker using an explosive from the missing missile from the beginning of the movie.

This movie gave a clear example of corruption in different parts of the world. The film was lengthy and hard to follow at first because the settings continued to change, but in the end each plot related to each other somehow. Because oil prices are