How do you cure a disease...
Saturday, November 26th, 2005 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serai.
...that keeps the infected alive?
SYRIANA
Every day, all over this country, all over the "civilized" world, every one of us - teachers, waiters, lawyers, bankers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, fry cooks - every one of us is complicit in crime. Theft, blackmail, torture. Murder. That we do not know does not exonerate us. That we consciously, willfully, choose not to know exacerbates the guilt, makes it fester, seats it deeper every day. How do we do it? How do so many honest, hard-working people manage to be a part of such a network of atrocity, such a sump of vile nastiness, that would surely make us turn away in disgust were we brave enough to face up to it? It's simple, really - just a little thing.
We turn a key.
Every day we get in our cars and turn the ignition, starting a chain reaction that reaches all over the world. Or we reach into the refrigerator for a carton or a box that contains some product brought from hundreds of miles away. Or we turn a dial that starts the mechanism that makes it possible for us to live through the winter.
All of these are simple things, things that we take for granted without ever really thinking about their implications. Most of us have no idea just how intricate this network is, how it reaches its tendrils into every single aspect of our lives. How engrained it is into our existence, or how locked we are into its web. We couldn't take ourselves out of it no matter how hard we tried. Our civilization has become a veritable Midgard Serpent, eating its own tail in its vast, unassuagable hunger. And slowly (but faster every day) that tail is disappearing, and what then? What will happen when the serpent has eaten all the way down its spine, and finds its hunger still raging, and nothing left to devour? What will we do then, all us honest, hard-working folk?
Syriana is the newest film from Stephen Gaghan, writer of the Soderbergh-directed Traffic, and like that earlier film, its complex, interweaving strands raise some insurmountable questions about our lives, the way they interact and the effect they have on the world we live in. It doesn't answer those questions, because there really isn't an answer to them. That's the nature of the beast that this film forces you to look in the eye: The Beast has you, and it won't let go. It won't let any of us go, because we will not let it go. Not now, and not ever. Not until we are forced to do so, and by then it will be far, far too late.
The film stars George Clooney, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Wright, Christopher Plummer, and a whole raft of excellent actors of Middle Eastern descent whose names are unfamiliar to me, but whose performances are every bit as impressive as those of the Americans. (And the Brit - forgive me, but Plummer has so conquered the Stateside accent and manner that it's tough for me to remember he's British anymore.) It is a film every bit as involving and damning as the problems it addresses. This film is not an entertainment, so don't go expecting an evening of escapism. It's the very antithesis of escape, for it shoves you ever deeper into the very world we all live in; every moment you discover more that you wish you didn't know.
For one thing, it's a demanding film. The plot is intricate, incredibly so. So much so that I can't give you any real synopsis, because I've just barely got a hold on what happened in it myself. The style of the film is very much an adult style - no cookie-cutter characters, cutesy mugging or Hollywood tomfoolery to amuse you here. You'll have to work for this one. Gaghan's trick of dropping you into scenes without any fanfare or exposition, peopled by characters with no formal introduction, forces you to pay attention, every scene, every second. You can't let yourself get distracted for a moment, or you'll lose the thread of the goings-on. And the goings-on are intense, carrying an underlying vibe of importance no matter how trivial they may seem. It's a rare film that puts across with such urgency the reality of the so-called "butterfly effect", how the smallest events can have world-shaking consequences. Something as innocent as an improvised, aimless game of soccer between three idle young guys carries within it the seed of the world's future.
The film struck me on many levels. Intellectually it's extremely challenging, as I've said. I can't remember the last time I concentrated this hard at the movies. My brain was going a mile a minute trying to keep up with all the faces, names, relationships, especially since the filmmakers never pause to actually explain anything. It was either keep up or get left woefully behind. That in itself was a welcome experience, for how often is one's mind so invigorated at a film? How often does a movie assume that you're smart enough not to need explanations? It's a daunting task, but I felt some pride in being able to try rising to the challenge, at least.
Emotionally, though, the film took me on a very different ride, by the end of which I was drained and weak. The audience is not spared at all, for if you're adult enough to figure out the plot twists, you're also adult enough to endure the painful onslaught of their consequences. And they are tough. I spent some time whispering "no no no" desperately to myself, some time covering my eyes and cringing, some time holding back tears. The intellectual complexity never negates the pain of these characters (and by implication, all the others in the world whose lives are twined in and around this Beast), but conversely, the emotion never swamps the demand to see. That we look at what we do, at what our leaders do, at what our cultures do. That we understand that there is no comfortable, blameless life, no happy mindless innocence, no nifty convenience that does not demand that somebody somewhere pay a price. A price that we in our padded enclave of a country isolated from the rest of the world are not required to pay.
Or so we think. Because one of the points this film make is that some of us do pay. The rest of us just don't know about it. Either because we don't want to know, or because we're not allowed to know. That kind of knowledge is too dangerous, because it unbalances us. It takes away our willingness to participate, our complicity with the Beast, or it should. Too often, though, it doesn't. Too many people in this world just shrug and think, "What does it have to do with me?" That's a luxury our civilization has afforded us, one that many, many people in this world don't get to experience precisely because we do, but somehow I don't think it's a luxury we'll get to enjoy for much longer.
See, this is not a situation that can last forever. I'd be very surprised if it lasted another fifty years. Within the span of our children's lives, all this happy horseshit will end, simply because the slick, black blood of the Beast is going to run out, dry up, disappear. There's only so much of it in the world, and for all the protestations of those who get fat on it, we're really not doing anything to guard against that day. We think of it as limitless, but it isn't. And the end is coming faster than we think. What will happen then?
I keep asking that question because it's stuck now in my mind. Syriana (which is not a country, by the way - it's a word used by government think tanks to indicate the goal of creating a Middle East patterned after the US, with the US's interests and dominance at its heart, existing to serve our needs) drives that question into everything. I sat in the dark during the credits trying not to cry and only just succeeding, and then I walked out of the theater into the glitzy Disneyish amusement park of an outdoor mall all decked out for Christmas, and felt an abhorrence and a hatred for my own country that really took me aback. It was suddenly all so disgusting - the avarice, the unconscious gluttony, the perfectly accepted sense of entitlement in our culture. That we have all of this because somehow we deserve it - oh man, it sickened me. I felt weak and nauseous, and a little desperate for an answer.
But what is the answer? As I said, I don't think there is one. I think we're on a roller coaster, strapped in and helpless while we plunge towards an inevitable collision. And that collision will come, mark my words. There's no way to stop it. How and when may not be predictable exactly, but that we'll get there is in no doubt. Again, we are locked into it. Where in the world could we go to escape, when all the world is tied, hooked, woven into the net we've made? I can only hope it won't be too catastrophic, but honestly I can't see how it won't be.
Despite all of this, or because of it, I heartily recommend Syriana. As I watched it, part of me was truly thrilled by another example of this new renaissance of responsible filmmaking. After so many years of puerile crap at the movies, it's a wonder and refreshment of the spirit to see films like this again. Films that pick up the threads of The China Syndrome, All the President's Men, Norma Rae. Films that are about something again, about things that are going on around us in the world. Films that look with an unflinching eye and precise talent, films that hunt down and expose, films that have - dare I say it? - an actual conscience. The irony of filmmakers having to do the work that journalists have become too complacent and fearful to undertake is considerable, for films like this rip off our blindfolds and force us to see the world and ourselves, even if only for a little while.
And not only ourselves. The thing that clinches this film's genius for me is how it tells stories from all sides of the argument. Nobody is made to be the shadowy bad guy here. There are no stereotypes. Everybody is real, has a face, has eyes and lips and a voice. Everyone speaks in his native tongue, and there are several in the film. (The subtitles add to the urgency of paying attention - in one early scene, the entire tragic chain of events hinges on the fact that one character is speaking Farsi and the other is speaking Arabic, and to my untrained ears, they sounded exactly the same. A point not lost on me, and which comes up again and again as the different languages and their use play an important role.) Everyone here has concerns that are real, and real reasons for what they do, just like in real life. As much as we'd like to delude ourselves that We're The Good Guys and They're The Bad Guys, it's not so. Let's face it, no one ever acts thinking he's wrong; everyone does what he does because he thinks his actions are right. You, me, the guy next door, the guy ten thousand miles away. That's one of the achievements of this film, and the kind of filmmaking that went into it. When I recall Syriana, one image, I think, will always come to the fore: that of a beautiful young man, closing his eyes and thinking of Heaven as the wind rushes over his face.
And I think it will always bring tears to my eyes.
For those of you interested in more about the making of this film, please click the link in the title above, which will lead you to the film's website. On the lower right corner of the screen, you'll be given the opportunity to download an audio file of a press conference with Stephen Gaghan, George Clooney, Alexander Siddig, Jeffrey Wright, and Bob Baer (the author of "See No Evil", which inspired the film). You'll hear some stuff that will quite amaze you.
I've decided to post this movie review publicly because it's one of those films that I feel every thinking person should see. It's that important.
...that keeps the infected alive?
SYRIANA
Every day, all over this country, all over the "civilized" world, every one of us - teachers, waiters, lawyers, bankers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, fry cooks - every one of us is complicit in crime. Theft, blackmail, torture. Murder. That we do not know does not exonerate us. That we consciously, willfully, choose not to know exacerbates the guilt, makes it fester, seats it deeper every day. How do we do it? How do so many honest, hard-working people manage to be a part of such a network of atrocity, such a sump of vile nastiness, that would surely make us turn away in disgust were we brave enough to face up to it? It's simple, really - just a little thing.
We turn a key.
Every day we get in our cars and turn the ignition, starting a chain reaction that reaches all over the world. Or we reach into the refrigerator for a carton or a box that contains some product brought from hundreds of miles away. Or we turn a dial that starts the mechanism that makes it possible for us to live through the winter.
All of these are simple things, things that we take for granted without ever really thinking about their implications. Most of us have no idea just how intricate this network is, how it reaches its tendrils into every single aspect of our lives. How engrained it is into our existence, or how locked we are into its web. We couldn't take ourselves out of it no matter how hard we tried. Our civilization has become a veritable Midgard Serpent, eating its own tail in its vast, unassuagable hunger. And slowly (but faster every day) that tail is disappearing, and what then? What will happen when the serpent has eaten all the way down its spine, and finds its hunger still raging, and nothing left to devour? What will we do then, all us honest, hard-working folk?
Syriana is the newest film from Stephen Gaghan, writer of the Soderbergh-directed Traffic, and like that earlier film, its complex, interweaving strands raise some insurmountable questions about our lives, the way they interact and the effect they have on the world we live in. It doesn't answer those questions, because there really isn't an answer to them. That's the nature of the beast that this film forces you to look in the eye: The Beast has you, and it won't let go. It won't let any of us go, because we will not let it go. Not now, and not ever. Not until we are forced to do so, and by then it will be far, far too late.
The film stars George Clooney, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Wright, Christopher Plummer, and a whole raft of excellent actors of Middle Eastern descent whose names are unfamiliar to me, but whose performances are every bit as impressive as those of the Americans. (And the Brit - forgive me, but Plummer has so conquered the Stateside accent and manner that it's tough for me to remember he's British anymore.) It is a film every bit as involving and damning as the problems it addresses. This film is not an entertainment, so don't go expecting an evening of escapism. It's the very antithesis of escape, for it shoves you ever deeper into the very world we all live in; every moment you discover more that you wish you didn't know.
For one thing, it's a demanding film. The plot is intricate, incredibly so. So much so that I can't give you any real synopsis, because I've just barely got a hold on what happened in it myself. The style of the film is very much an adult style - no cookie-cutter characters, cutesy mugging or Hollywood tomfoolery to amuse you here. You'll have to work for this one. Gaghan's trick of dropping you into scenes without any fanfare or exposition, peopled by characters with no formal introduction, forces you to pay attention, every scene, every second. You can't let yourself get distracted for a moment, or you'll lose the thread of the goings-on. And the goings-on are intense, carrying an underlying vibe of importance no matter how trivial they may seem. It's a rare film that puts across with such urgency the reality of the so-called "butterfly effect", how the smallest events can have world-shaking consequences. Something as innocent as an improvised, aimless game of soccer between three idle young guys carries within it the seed of the world's future.
The film struck me on many levels. Intellectually it's extremely challenging, as I've said. I can't remember the last time I concentrated this hard at the movies. My brain was going a mile a minute trying to keep up with all the faces, names, relationships, especially since the filmmakers never pause to actually explain anything. It was either keep up or get left woefully behind. That in itself was a welcome experience, for how often is one's mind so invigorated at a film? How often does a movie assume that you're smart enough not to need explanations? It's a daunting task, but I felt some pride in being able to try rising to the challenge, at least.
Emotionally, though, the film took me on a very different ride, by the end of which I was drained and weak. The audience is not spared at all, for if you're adult enough to figure out the plot twists, you're also adult enough to endure the painful onslaught of their consequences. And they are tough. I spent some time whispering "no no no" desperately to myself, some time covering my eyes and cringing, some time holding back tears. The intellectual complexity never negates the pain of these characters (and by implication, all the others in the world whose lives are twined in and around this Beast), but conversely, the emotion never swamps the demand to see. That we look at what we do, at what our leaders do, at what our cultures do. That we understand that there is no comfortable, blameless life, no happy mindless innocence, no nifty convenience that does not demand that somebody somewhere pay a price. A price that we in our padded enclave of a country isolated from the rest of the world are not required to pay.
Or so we think. Because one of the points this film make is that some of us do pay. The rest of us just don't know about it. Either because we don't want to know, or because we're not allowed to know. That kind of knowledge is too dangerous, because it unbalances us. It takes away our willingness to participate, our complicity with the Beast, or it should. Too often, though, it doesn't. Too many people in this world just shrug and think, "What does it have to do with me?" That's a luxury our civilization has afforded us, one that many, many people in this world don't get to experience precisely because we do, but somehow I don't think it's a luxury we'll get to enjoy for much longer.
See, this is not a situation that can last forever. I'd be very surprised if it lasted another fifty years. Within the span of our children's lives, all this happy horseshit will end, simply because the slick, black blood of the Beast is going to run out, dry up, disappear. There's only so much of it in the world, and for all the protestations of those who get fat on it, we're really not doing anything to guard against that day. We think of it as limitless, but it isn't. And the end is coming faster than we think. What will happen then?
I keep asking that question because it's stuck now in my mind. Syriana (which is not a country, by the way - it's a word used by government think tanks to indicate the goal of creating a Middle East patterned after the US, with the US's interests and dominance at its heart, existing to serve our needs) drives that question into everything. I sat in the dark during the credits trying not to cry and only just succeeding, and then I walked out of the theater into the glitzy Disneyish amusement park of an outdoor mall all decked out for Christmas, and felt an abhorrence and a hatred for my own country that really took me aback. It was suddenly all so disgusting - the avarice, the unconscious gluttony, the perfectly accepted sense of entitlement in our culture. That we have all of this because somehow we deserve it - oh man, it sickened me. I felt weak and nauseous, and a little desperate for an answer.
But what is the answer? As I said, I don't think there is one. I think we're on a roller coaster, strapped in and helpless while we plunge towards an inevitable collision. And that collision will come, mark my words. There's no way to stop it. How and when may not be predictable exactly, but that we'll get there is in no doubt. Again, we are locked into it. Where in the world could we go to escape, when all the world is tied, hooked, woven into the net we've made? I can only hope it won't be too catastrophic, but honestly I can't see how it won't be.
Despite all of this, or because of it, I heartily recommend Syriana. As I watched it, part of me was truly thrilled by another example of this new renaissance of responsible filmmaking. After so many years of puerile crap at the movies, it's a wonder and refreshment of the spirit to see films like this again. Films that pick up the threads of The China Syndrome, All the President's Men, Norma Rae. Films that are about something again, about things that are going on around us in the world. Films that look with an unflinching eye and precise talent, films that hunt down and expose, films that have - dare I say it? - an actual conscience. The irony of filmmakers having to do the work that journalists have become too complacent and fearful to undertake is considerable, for films like this rip off our blindfolds and force us to see the world and ourselves, even if only for a little while.
And not only ourselves. The thing that clinches this film's genius for me is how it tells stories from all sides of the argument. Nobody is made to be the shadowy bad guy here. There are no stereotypes. Everybody is real, has a face, has eyes and lips and a voice. Everyone speaks in his native tongue, and there are several in the film. (The subtitles add to the urgency of paying attention - in one early scene, the entire tragic chain of events hinges on the fact that one character is speaking Farsi and the other is speaking Arabic, and to my untrained ears, they sounded exactly the same. A point not lost on me, and which comes up again and again as the different languages and their use play an important role.) Everyone here has concerns that are real, and real reasons for what they do, just like in real life. As much as we'd like to delude ourselves that We're The Good Guys and They're The Bad Guys, it's not so. Let's face it, no one ever acts thinking he's wrong; everyone does what he does because he thinks his actions are right. You, me, the guy next door, the guy ten thousand miles away. That's one of the achievements of this film, and the kind of filmmaking that went into it. When I recall Syriana, one image, I think, will always come to the fore: that of a beautiful young man, closing his eyes and thinking of Heaven as the wind rushes over his face.
And I think it will always bring tears to my eyes.
For those of you interested in more about the making of this film, please click the link in the title above, which will lead you to the film's website. On the lower right corner of the screen, you'll be given the opportunity to download an audio file of a press conference with Stephen Gaghan, George Clooney, Alexander Siddig, Jeffrey Wright, and Bob Baer (the author of "See No Evil", which inspired the film). You'll hear some stuff that will quite amaze you.
I've decided to post this movie review publicly because it's one of those films that I feel every thinking person should see. It's that important.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Sunday, November 27th, 2005 10:49 am (UTC)Thanks!
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 05:45 am (UTC)I wish I could write these reviews professionally, but it's such a saturated market, what with the internet. I think I may send this one in to a few venues, though. NPR (National Public Radio) might find it interesting. :)
no subject
Date: Sunday, November 27th, 2005 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, November 27th, 2005 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, November 27th, 2005 05:58 pm (UTC)George Clooney is making some interesting choices in his career path when many thought he would follow a Cary Grant type career. Alexander Siddig is also in this -Dr Bashir from Star Trek Deep Space 9- he's the Arab prince who wants to cut ties with the US,I believe
no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 05:58 am (UTC)And yes, Clooney has been doing some excellent work in the last few years. It's heartening to see the direction he's taking; he could so easily have stuck with his Handsome Star thing, but he's showing a lot of courage in his choice of projects. He doesn't seem to care about any potential risk to his career, and that's all to the good. Kudos to him! I hope he keeps it up, because damn, do we really need these films right now. Maybe he'll inspire more Hollwyood stars to get behind these kinds of worthwhile films.
P.S.
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 28th, 2005 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, December 1st, 2005 01:46 pm (UTC)I would like to quote several paragraphs of one of your fics in my F/S Advent Calendar (http://www.livejournal.com/users/frodosweetstuff/69532.html). Could you please let me know if that is okay with you? Thank you. :)
no subject
Date: Monday, December 5th, 2005 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, December 5th, 2005 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, December 5th, 2005 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 09:31 pm (UTC)Just been to your website and had a look at your manips - loved the Casey/Zeke one! *drools* Perfect!
May I friend you?
no subject
Date: Monday, December 5th, 2005 06:27 am (UTC)