Syriana

Syriana opened December 9, after private screenings with the director in Washington D.C. Some in the audience walked out during those early screenings; one wonders why. And one wonders: is this how the oil business and government intrigue work? For example, here's part of a quote that might have struck close to home:

Corruption. Corruption is our protection, corruption keeps us safe and warm, corruption is why we win.

Another quote has an energy analyst in the film preaching to the Emir's son:

You want to know what the business world thinks of you? We think a hundred years ago you were living out here in tents in the desert chopping each others head's off, and that's exactly where you're gonna be in another hundred. So yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money.

This is a perversion of an extant Arab saying about camels before and camels after (the age of oil). But furthermore, this condescending statement reflects a lack of understanding on the part of the writers about our own fate as separate from that of the oil producers. Even the enlightened Oxford-educated son can only look at the short term future.

For an example of them is us, look at this project in one the more progressive Gulf Emirates.

Syriana is rightfully being talked about in various circles, including critics and politicos. Here are two conservative views. One says:

Syriana makes no attempt to grapple with the distressing fact that every time we fill our cars we fund those plotting to murder us.

He somewhat misses the point. It's not that others are trying to kill us; it's more like we're killing ouselves through our indulgence and dependence. Another critic says about the film:

[There's] no hint that petroleum fuels civilization.

I dispute that; there is a very small hint. The critic also writes:

And who are the really greedy? Do the simple arithmetic of pumping petroleum in the desert: After expenses of typically under $5 a barrel, rigged cartels in the Middle East -- run by Iranian mullahs, Persian Gulf royals or Libyan autocrats -- sell it on the world market for between $50 to $60.

First, it's their oil, unfortunately. Second, is it really that cheap to produce? What happens when it starts to run out? Third, should they (whomever) keep the price low, so that we use it up all the faster?

See also James Howard Kunstler's crtiique.