[donshan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('entropyfails', 'A')s a response for the storyline trying to "cram too much information" into the picture or criticisms of the "jumbled flow" of the film, I would like to point out that the director achieved EXACTLY what he wanted to.

If you check out some interviews with him, he says he wanted to portray how large, complex, and byzantine the international oil business is. You have the oil execs, the royal princes, the CIA, the DOJ, Lawyers, Bankers, fall guys and shady deals all of whom have NO idea of the big picture.

The movie points out that this situation is so complex, no single human can understand all of the aspects of the situation. We are all flying blind, clinging to our corrupt system, hoping to get another day or two out of it.
____skip
In short, give this movie another shot with a different outlook if you didn't like it the first time around. And recommend it to your friends. Because if this movie doesn't do well, then we'll probably never see another film by a Peak Oil aware writer.

[Revi]

A friend saw it who is semi peak oil aware. He thought it was interesting and scary. Being aware of peak oil and it's potential for havoc, we were nonplussed by the movie, but the average person is getting new information from this movie. The scary part is that we need the stuff so badly and we have such a shaky hold on it.

[Barlow]

When I saw the Syriana last night I could have yelled "FIRE" and gotten away with it. I was the only one in the theater.

So with no distractions like snoring and people going in and out, I still struggled some to follow it all -- and I consider myself very up on ME oil and PO. Our local reviewer had warned that there was a lot jammed in the movie with many parallel plots, so I wasn't surprised. But I'm still not sure who the Christopher Plummer character was.

That said, I thought it was a good movie. But for many --- particularly the younger generation who might be totally clueless about where that gasoline at the local gas station comes from --- would not like the movie at all. I saw an on-line reviewer, who by his writing style can't be over 30, pan the movie as too hard to follow. And I thought these kids were used to dealing with their TV and video game induced 30 second attention spans.

To add to my surreal experience, when my exclusive viewing was over, I strolled down a very long hallway of the brand-new highly well-lit multi-plex completely alone. (No Post Carbon Institute folks with PO handouts.) And then through the brand-new highly well-lit deserted 'life style' faux city shopping center to the only car in the parking lot. This brand new shopping center is a mere 5 miles from the Indianapolis airport which is at the beginning of an unneeded $1 billion rebuild.

I'd say it'll be quite some time until the message of Syriana sinks in here. And when it does it will be a very rude awakening.

Now this:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bartholland', 'H')ow does this movie compare with "The Deal"?

I found "the deal" somewhat dissapointing . Anyone seen both?

[Princess]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barlow', 'I') saw an on-line reviewer, who by his writing style can't be over 30, pan the movie as too hard to follow. And I thought these kids were used to dealing with their TV and video game induced 30 second attention spans.

[Barlow]

The above "guest" is me, Barlow. I thought I was logged in.

Oops. The below post..... Now I'm really confused.

[Barlow_gst1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Princess', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barlow', 'I') saw an on-line reviewer, who by his writing style can't be over 30, pan the movie as too hard to follow. And I thought these kids were used to dealing with their TV and video game induced 30 second attention spans.

[Revi]

The movie is getting mixed reviews, but it's still out there in the mainstream conciousness, disturbing the status quo and shaking things up. There will be more than a few people who are discomfited enough to dig a bit deeper until they find peak oil. Maybe that's a good thing.

[jmacdaddio]

Saw this last night ... the plots were hard to follow but luckily I've read enough about the movie to know what to expect. I was expecting at least some acknolwedgement of the consumption / delpetion / PO problems but it focused mainly on the political angle: the connection between Big Oil and turmoil in the ME. Unfortunately you need to be well-read in history and current affairs to understand the intricacies of the plot: I saw the film with a friend from work who didn't understand why some guys in the Saudi-like country couldn't speak Arabic. My friend is one of the smartest people I know, but unless you had come across an article describing the guest worker situation in Saudi Arabia, you would never understand what the Pakistanis were doing there. The Matt Damon character refers to his best buddy Prince Nasir as a latter-day Mossadegh, and we all know what happened to Mossadegh, but unless you know history very well, you won't have a clue as to who Mossadegh was. I'm concerned that Joe Sixpack won't understand what's going on at all .... but the truth is that this film is not for Joe Sixpack.

[Revi]

Well, I am going to the matinee today to hand out Peak Oil stuff and to tell people about our group. It should be fun. This is the first glimpse of Peak Oil for most people. I think it'll get a few people thinking. I've been reading The Tipping Point. We're the early adopters. Most people aren't aware yet and are watching us to see how we fare. Then they will follow. If we get a few people aware around here they can start to do something, anyway. If we all cut our energy use 15% we could all make it to at least 2010 without even much of a hit in lifestyle! It might even give the economy a boost. I saw lots of twirly bulbs for sale in the supermarket, right next to the cash registers. They use 1/4 of the energy and last 5 times as long. 3 for $3.49! What's not to like? People are waking up. Syriana could help them a bit. We'll see what kind of response I get...

[UIUCstudent01]

I saw Syriana a few days ago..

The 4-5 different plots really had little crossover in terms of characters meeting. I think it was a bad movie in general if you came because you saw Matt Damon, George Clooney, and explosions...

My friends said that what they got out of the movie was that corruption was keeping us safe and will keep us safe in oil matters...

I also connected the facts that not developing infrastructure with oil profits has an upward trend in the number of terrorists. Or something like that. I think most people just didn't connect the terrorist plot with anything else as it was so different.

I don't think the movie flowed well in the first hour... there were too many storylines taking place to just switch from one to another and not have the average movie-goer confused.

[EnviroEngr]

My opinions are entered here: http://www.participate.net/node/785

[Revi]

I saw the movie again, and I have to say that even though I know a lot about what was going on in the movie, there was a lot I missed the first time around. This time the story wasn't as surprising, but it was possible to focus on some of the small details. I handed out the info from Post Carbon. People took the info, but I don't expect much response. Who knows? Maybe it's still early. I don't think this movie will make the majority peak oil aware, but maybe it gets people thinking.

[DigitalCubano]

I finally saw the film last night. My initial impression was that it reminded me of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." As with the meat packing industry, most people are either oblivious or wilfully ignorant of the gory details behind the gas they buy. I think there was a particularly clever and subtle metaphor involving bacon that reinforced this notion.

There were two very relevant PO bits in the movie. The first was a mention of the lack of any new "elephant" discoveries and the second was the mention of dwindling global supplies to rationalize the intense interest in backing one particular prince's ascendancy to the throne.

The movie definitely commanded attention throughout as the plot was constantly shifting among the 4 (possibly 5?) storylines. Though, I didn't enjoy it as much as Traffic, I'm glad I saw the movie. Did anyone get the John D. Rockerfeller/U. of Chicago bit? I feel that was probably a metaphor for something, but it went over my head.

[khebab]

Good movie, I really enjoyed it. Very well written, a very sophisticated and dark view of the oil business. The movie is sometimes hard to follow because of the many stories running at the same time. A few lines from Matt Damon about the oil running out. From a peakoiler perspective it increased my level of doomersity because the film demonstrates how nasty the fight for the control of the last oil fields could possibly become!

[Euric]

I saw Syriana on Silvester. I found part of it hard to follow, but also found some interesting comments made.

I found it interesting that there is, at least according to the movie, a Iranian Liberation Organization operating in the US. Also Matt Damon's character suggesting that a pipeline from Kazakhstan to Europe would be through Iran, with the purpose of by-passing the American controlled shipping lanes.

The most interesting were the two son's of the Saudi Emir, one very pro-American and the other who was against Americans wasting his nations resources. He wanted to open an independent oil exchange and divorce his country's oil pricing from being determined by IPE and NYMEX. He wanted to bring a true democracy via a parliament to his country. His most interesting comment was how he would be labelled a terrorist or a godless Communist for dealing with nations like Iran or China. In the end, the Americans killed him and his family and the pro-American son became Emir.

Much of the movie was boring. They really should have based the story on a the two brothers and their struggle with each other to become Emir. The plot could have easily revolved around the struggle to keep or remove the petrodollar system.

That would have at least exposed the majority of viewers to the reality of the petrodollar and why it is defended by some and opposed by others.

[crapattack]

I finally saw it as well, and like many here I was disappointed in how little it touched on the peak oil aspects. I was glad it showed the complexity and corruptness of American involvement in the industry and it made some good points there. It also let consumers off the hook a bit in that it didn't make any direct correlation between driving your car and what was happening in the movie and it would have been nice to see some American consumers obliviously going about their day. Overall, I think it was an admirable attempt to bring some of these issues to light but it was mostly entertainment.
As entertainment I thought the plot was a bit complex for people, maybe the movie orginally supposed to be longer, for example the plotline with son - we only see him the once. I thought some things could have been fleshed out a bit more.

[rockdoc123]

Finally got a chance to see Syriana over the holidays and thought I would share an interesting perspective from someone whose spent a goodly bit of time in the Middle East. I had not read the book this was based on (CIA agent Baer I believe). Interestingly enough a number of the reviews I read suggested that the country Syriana was meant to represent Saudi Arabia. I don’t think that is the case ….there are a number of interesting things in the movie that point to which country it is:

· The prince offers up a piece of the North Field to the Matt Damon character.
· The Head of State is called an Emir and not a King
· There are two princes
· The Crown should be turned over to the oldest son but is instead turned over to the youngest
· The youngest son is pro-US interests
· The prince mentions that there are several thousand US troops in the country
· The backdrop to a lot of the scenes shows expansive highway in the desert with a city in the background with widely spaced modern towers.
· The entire workforce appears to be of Asian extraction (Pakistani, Hindu etc)

To my mind it is pretty clear the author/screenwriter is pointing directly at Qatar. Qatar is not part of the emirates but the Head of State is an Emir. He has two sons and two years ago, contrary to accepted standards he appointed the younger son his heir apparent. It is well-known that the younger son is pro-Western and progressive. Of course when US troops left Saudi they situated themselves in Qatar, some 40 KM south of Doha. This was the main base for Gulf War II. There are only two countries that have a piece of the North Field….Qatar and Iran, however, the Iranians call it Pars. The backdrop in the movie actually was Dubai, but rather than shoot shots that made it clear that was the city (i.e. there are a lot of perspectives that could have been shot which would have made it clear we are looking at Dubai) it was shot so that the landscape was eerily reminiscent of Doha. And in Qatar only 10% of the population is Qatari….the remaining 90% is Asian migrant workers. The CIA agent in real life was responsible for trying to pin terrorist activity on the Qatari foreign minister….no sanctions happened, however. What I find surprising is that the Qatar government did not protest this film, as it does put them in a bad light. I would have thought they could easily exert pressure on the US government to have the film sanctioned or at least brutally edited based on the LNG deals they have with US interests.

Another interesting bit was the parallel story regarding corruption in Kazachstan. This is actually almost identical to the true story regarding corruption surrounding the Kashagan field. Exxon-Mobil were brought up on charges under FCPA and the fall guy turns out to be a “facilitator” or negotiator who worked for them on a contract basis….just like the movie As far as I know the case is still before the courts.

So the movie is a compendium of more or less real events….the names being changed to protect the innocent/guilty.

[Free]

Great interview with Stephen Gaghan:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')...

(I explain to Gaghan a glib exchange with a friend I had with a bit of truth to it: "I was talking to someone and they said “I don’t know if I want to see it, because it looks like a sequel to Traffic,” and I said -- glibly, but also seriously, “Don’t think of it as a sequel to Traffic; think of it as a prequel to Mad Max.” ... And the question is, at a certain point, the music’s going to stop, and everyone’s going to look around and say ‘Uhhhhh, where’s my chair?” I mean, you’ve done a certain amount of research; if there’s a civilian authority on these matters, it’s you. So, how long is the music going to keep going for oil?")

Well, they think we’re at peak production this year and next year, something like that, for global energy production, the most that we can ever can really get out; that we’ve hit the crest and oddly, I think everybody had this feeling – although not a one-to-one relationship – I think that what we were seeing, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it felt like the trailer of coming attractions, it felt like a preview. Like, holy cow – we are looking into Mad Max. Like, God, that is what it’s going to look like. It’s going to be racial; 'Us fat White people, we got all the shit we need; fuck you, poor people who happen to be Black or Mexican'; it really felt like you were looking at this Hobbsean future; it was just like he laid out. I don’t know; people have been making predictions; oddly, everybody I talked to in 2001, 2002, would have said for sure that Saudi Arabia was going to topple by now, that it was going to go down in flames to the Wahhabists. And weirdly, us going into Iraq, energy prices tripled; it tripled the price of a barrel of crude, which has poured so much money into the coffers of these regimes that they’ve been able to sustain themselves a little bit longer. They were going down; they were running out of money. And now, they’re like so loaded. Imagine if you could triple your Gross National Product overnight. They’re like ‘Go Bush! Go baby! Go Iraq, go Syria, go Iran! Keep it rollin! Let’s see if we can quintuple it, sextuple it!’

It’s astonishing how good war is for oil companies and oil traders. Anyone in the energy business (will tell you): Chaos is good for the energy business. And that’s the first thing they’ll tell you. They don’t feel good about it; but it’s true. I think we will hit a tipping point ... but I also think we’re so industrious, so creative … that there really will be a Manhattan Project-style ... I mean, we’re very close to having the writing on the wall for global warming, I believe; we’ve passed a tipping point and shit is going to start going haywire, and I think we’ll start talking in terms of carbon wedges and changing our lifestyles is going to happen very quickly. I don’t know if it’s going to be five years, 10 years 15 years … It’s definitely in our lifetime; our children are going to have very different lives. The carbon economy is going to shift; I don’t know if it’s a hydrogen economy, a sunlight economy; you’re not going to be flying around on jet planes the way you are now, probably; there are going to be changes. ... I don’t know; I’m not a futurist. But I did enough research into human nature, figuring out this one, that I’m absolutely certain that until it’s really dire, nothing’s going to change.

(The energy crisis of the '70s comes up; specifically, how we didn't seem to learn anything from that.)

It’s the same fuckers, man! It’s all the same Nixon guys; they got tossed out of office for a while with Carter. They came back with Reagan; they had a bad couple years under Poppy (George H. W. Bush), who wasn’t really hip to these guys, and then Clinton … and they’re all back! Just look at them! They’re all like a hundred and ten years old, they cut their teeth under the first Nixon administration ... they hang upside down like vampire bats when they’re out of power and they wait around. It’s the same guys: ‘Hey, don’t conserve energy! There’s no problem! Party on!’

[Revi]

Great interview with Gaghan, Free! I wish he was able to get that message out in the movie. He knows what's up. It took me 2 times to get a lot of the details in the movie. I suppose that it wouldn't have become a internationally released movie if it had come out too strongly against the current regime here in the US. Very interesting movie. I'm still thinking about some of the details.

[lotrfan55345]

The Day After Tomorrow and Syriana are in totally different classes. Honsetly, DAT was a pure moneymaker while Syriana is an actual intellectual masterpeice.