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Syriana (2005)
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Using the same multi-stranded technique as he did for his Oscar-winning screenplay of the drugs drama Traffic, writer/director Stephen Gaghan here weaves the threads of small, apparently barely linked narratives into a giant tapestry, revealing the global oil industry in all its hideous, venal and corrupt glory. The story is so labyrinthine that an adequate description is impossible (and indeed its deliberate complexity will be an irritant to some), but individual plot elements include George Clooney as a worn-out CIA agent involved in arms dealing and assassinations, Matt Damon as a grief-stricken energy analyst and Christopher Plummer as the head of a powerful Washington law firm. These seemingly disparate tales move at a relentless pace and, as a result, the whole picture is sometimes difficult to grasp — again deliberately so. Gaghan's technique is not to convince you that you're following a single set of characters involved in a coherent story, but rather to give you the jittery, exhilarating feeling that you're eavesdropping on conversations you were never meant to hear. It's an approach that makes this a compelling, richly detailed and, in the end, terrifying experience. AS
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| Contains violence, swearing. |
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Tell us what you think
Email us at rtfilmcomments@bbc.co.uk to tell us what you think of this film. Your comments may appear in Radio Times magazine.
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Running time
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122min
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Country of origin
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US
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Genre
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Political Thriller
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Original language
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English / Arabic / Farsi
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Screenplay
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Stephen Gaghan, suggested by the non-fiction book See No Evil by Robert Baer
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Theatrical distributor
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Warner Bros
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UK cinema certificate
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15
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UK cinema release date
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March 2006
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Subtitling information
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In English, Arabic, Farsi with subtitles
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| awards information |
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Award |
Category |
Name |
Nominee/Winner |
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| Academy 2005 |
Actor in a Supporting Role |
George Clooney |
Winner |
| Academy 2005 |
Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) |
Stephen Gaghan |
Nominee |
| British Academy Film Awards 2005 |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role |
George Clooney |
Nominee |
| Golden Globe 2005 |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Motion Picture |
George Clooney |
Winner |
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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