SYRIANA BREAKS IRANIAN STEREOTYPES BY DARIUS KADIVAR

Syriana ©Warner Bros

George Clooney and Matt Damon take a mature look at the Middle East

' We are quickly learning that when the right hand is cut, the left hand bleeds ... Something like global co-operation must emerge if this new reality is ever to make sense. The first step, as Syriana suggests, is to realize that we are all part of its cast, one way or another.' - Deepak Chopra on Syriana in the Huffington Post

Hollywood particularly in European intellectual circles has often been unjustly criticized for ignoring the reality of World Conflicts and being a platform for what some consider as American Imperialism . It is true that in regard to the Vietnam War for instance John Wayne's Green Berets was no more than a tissue of propaganda for US intervention in that country and in our post 9/11 America it is unfortunate to see that the the war in Iraq or the Palestine-Israeli conflict have been subject to numerous TV productions that simply exploit the war film genre without really offering any deep insight of the roots of these conflicts. Nevertheless Hollywood to its credit has often taken bold steps in the opposite direction . If it does look at politics or world issues in a sensationalist way which is part of the game of entertainment it nevertheless has often thanks to its directors or actors delivered ground for mature and eye-opening debates on America's role in national or world politics proving if needed that America is still a great democracy. Recently Hollywood has been shaking and interrogating our political convictions and ideals with Steven Spielberg's excellent film Munich on the events following the tragic assassination by the PLO of the Israeli athletes during the Olympic Games of 1972. Without being a denunciation of Israel as a sovereign state or the Palestinian cause it nevertheless does question the recourse to violence on both sides and the futility of State Sponsored Terror be it justified like in the case of the Mossad hit squad that pursued undercover assassinations of would be instigators of the Munich assassinations. Spielberg's film seems to have drawn more controversy in Israel than amongst the American or European Jewish communities thus revealing their deeper gap between them and younger generations with the Jewish State in regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. As for the latest Warner Bros production Syriana starring George Clooney and Matt Damon it offers a mature look at the current problems of the Middle East and particularly the role of American Oil Companies as well as that of Islamic Fundamentalists in exploiting the chaotic situation in this troubled region and how they use the misery of immigrant workers to their own interests. Hollywood's new golden boy and former scriptwriter Stephan Caghan does a great job on Syriana . Caghan whose other film credit includes the Oscar winning screenplay of Steven Soderberg's Traffic made his movie based on the work of former CIA Middle East Operative, Robert Baer's best-selling book See no Evil which explains the perfect research and feedback given to the viewers particularly in regard to Iranians but also Middle Easterners in general. The film manages to break stereotypes that they often have been subject too particularly in films.(*) For these reason's particularly Syriana is a MUST SEE .

(Left) Blowing a Bomb in Tehran: Clooney plays a soon to be abandoned CIA agent
operating in Iran with the help of Iranian dissidents. (Right) Matt Damon is the idealist Oil advisor of an Arab Reform minded Prince Persian Gulf ©Warner Bros

Syriana opens with a key scene in Iran, one of them being a private party scene in Tehran during which Bob Barnes (a bearded George Clooney) a CIA agent on operation in Iran asks a pretty Iranian Lady if he could offer her a glass of Whiskey and she responds "no thank you I only drink Champagne ...".   An ironic response given the Islamic nature of Iranian society in the world press. Clooney's character even manages to speak a few words in Farsi and even distinguishes Arabic and Farsi during a scene where he meets an Osama Bin Laden type of character who threatens him with a gun in one particular scene at the beginning of the movie. Several Iranian actors also play in the movie too the most significant character is played by Kayvan Novak cast as Arash an Iranian who helps Clooney during his dangerous mission in Tehran.

Actor Kayvan Novak plays Arash an Iranian who helps
Clooney on his Iranian Mission . ©Warner Bros

The complexities of the messy situation in the Middle East are also analyzed in the light of the events following 9/11 and the Bush Administrations war in Iraq. The American policy in regard to Iran is denounced both in regard to former president Khatami's empty promises of reform and also raises concern on the lack of transparency of some unnamed exiled opposition groupes when Clooney is questioned by White House executives and presented to members of the CLI ( Committee of the Liberation of Iran ).  It is hard not to see a covert critic of Michael Leeden an influential voice at the American Enterprise Institute known for his staunch yet controversial criticism of the Islamic Republic and anti-IRI lobbying in Washington.

An Iran Air flight can also be noticed in the movie. ©Warner Bros

Syriana appears to be major film in the lines of Robert Redford's political thrillers of the 1970's such as pre-Watergate film Three Days of the Condor (released a year before Watergate, already denouncing political deals cut in the name of Oil interests of the West but overlooking power abuses of the US administration) and All the President's Men on Washington Posts journalists who revealed the  Watergate affair. Matt Damon is excellent in the role of the idealist yet pragmatic Oil analyst who tries to cut a deal with a reform minded and English educated Arab Prince (Compared to Muhammad Mossadeg in the film by Matt Damon even if one could also see similarities with pro Western former Shah of Iran in that the Prince is ultimately abandoned by the American Oil companies and the American administration) portrayed by the excellent Alexander Siddig. All secondary roles are very good too such as Christopher Plummer or Chris Cooper as corrupted Oil Magnates.

Not just an entertainer: George Clooney hunts for Saddam's Gold in Three Kings
which parodies some of CNN's sensationalist commentators in the 1999 film. ©Warner Bros

George Clooney whose political views seem to irritate the Bush Administration, some members of which called him a traitor to his nation is at the forefront of political awareness in Hollywood. He was already concerned by the American led War in Iraq in his 1999 film Three Kings that took a satirical and yet critical look at CNN coverages of the conflict during the first Gulf War.

Syriana also has the credit of not stereotyping all Arabs as die hard terrorists who believe in terrorist acts but as peon victims of a political and economic rivalry such as the Pakistani workers who faced with cruelty and misery have no other choice than to join Islamic fundamentalists. Rarely has a film been more sympathetic to the plight of badly paid and exploited immigrant Oil workers of the Persian Gulf.

Both Matt Damon and George Clooney deliver great performances. Matt Damon who at times steals the show from Clooney proves once again if needed what a good actor he is and matures well on screen. Clooney is particularly sober performance in the role of a tired yet concerned CIA agent. In addition he truly broke his back during a fight scene with co-actors cast as Islamic fundamentalists who end up torturing him in a frightening scene during which his nails are cut off ( if too sensitive avoid the film or close your eyes as I and many other viewers did ) and truly deserves his nomination as best supporting role at the upcoming Oscars. One funny question remains though: how come Clooney speaks a fluent Arab but that his Farsi is so terrible ?

Best Supporting Golden Globe award for George Clooney in Syriana ©Warner Bros

The film's conclusion which I won't reveal here nevertheless involves a crosscut edit of one of Matt Damon's American sons in the film and that of an Arab boy on the Oil fields that beautifully illustrates one of our Great Persian Poets philosophy :

"Human beings are all members of one body.
They are created from the same essence.
When one member is in pain,
The others cannot rest.
If you do not care about the pain of others,
You do not deserve to be called a human being."

-Saadi Shirazi 12 th Century AD (**)

May Mosleh al-Din Saadi Shirazi's humanistic message guide us all in the troubled waters of the Persian Gulf …

Author's notes:

(*) Interestingly ebay chief Jeff Skoll cofounder ebay with French Iranian Pierre Omidyar partly financed the movie as well as that of Clooneys other film Good Night and Good Luck (See article in guardian )

(**) Mosleh al-Din Saadi Shirazi's remains the master of love poetry and one of the greatest poets that Persia has produced. He lived at a period of major political and social change in Iran and the whole of the Middle East (the decline of the Abbasid Empire with the invasion and subsequent wanton destruction by the Mongols). (See Complete Bio )

 See Official Website: http://syrianamovie.warnerbros.com/

George Clooney with his Oscar (AP)