What was the point?
I tried to think of where we went wrong in our selection of DVDs to rent during our last trip to the local blue and yellow. I recall that we had boiled it down to a handful of selections, and somehow we ended up with this one. I say somehow because it seems like we were destined to watch it, as if lured to it or tractor-beamed in ... the movie was Syriana
After watching it, I felt that there just had to be a better way to convey the point of the movie. As it stands the movie is a series of unfortunate events and sequences, which as a viewer if you weren't in on "it", the joke, the point, etc., it would just all be lost on you -- and from watching the special features, the makers want this movie to change people's minds and affect their thinking on its issues related to American dependence on foreign oil.
In case one of my readers wants to watch it, here's the point: the US is super dependent on foreign oil, oil just happens to be mostly under the Middle East, the oil business is well, oily, and the shady dealings that ultimately get the oil from here to there has very immediate and dangerous consequences ... including everyone's favorite, terrorism
I did not get that from the movie, and SD could make neither head or tails of it. Actually we watched it over the course of two nights because we fell asleep the first night watching it. At the end of the day, I should not have to provide a 30 minute pointy headed lecture about the concepts of the movie to help my gf enjoy it. I'm sure if I wasn't a economics/politics wonk, this would be lost on me as well. Should you need to keep up on progressive websites, academic journals, etc. to gain enjoyment from a movie ... I should really hope not.
The movie is too complicated, too advanced for most people to make the leaps necessary so that they can be affected by anything besides boredom or confusion from this movie. In other words, all that self-congratulatory crap in the special features that this movie is so bold and important means as much to others ... as like when one meets up with their buddies, and an outsider just has to deal with the fact that "they had to be there" to appreciate it. This movie felt like that as well.
There is not enough explanation or context given. What good is a person who has expert knowledge, or at least deep passion, about a topic, if they cannot communicate it to anyone. The movie is constructed like Traffic, with several storylines, several perspectives. Beyond its failure to communicate well, another aspect of the disconnect is that the common citizen like you or I abstracts their experience with the oil industry as high prices or one of total convenience/go to the pump when I need it. I am assuming the average viewer of this film just simply does not have the depth of understanding or knowledge about the international oil business to draw links and inferences between the arcs in the storyline to be politically moved by the movie
Too bad, they could have really made a difference here