Bushido Movie Review: Syriana

After watching a devastating (10th straight) loss by the Braves last night, Craig and I decided we'd seen enough sports and decided to check out the movie he rented Syriana. Director Stephen Gaghan, who brought you the graphic insight into the inter-connected world of both the supply and demand controlling the US drug trade in the movie Traffic, is back again with a brilliant insight into the interchanges between the supply and demand of the US's biggest "addiction"-Oil. Through the eyes of an energy analyst-Woodson (Damon), CIA Operative-Bob Barnes (Clooney) and corporate attorney-Holiday (Wright), we get a raw experience of how belting off our arms and shooting "black-gold" into our red, white and blue veins affects everything from corporate and political corruption to geo-politics and religion. Indeed, in the global community we (America) are the junkies who roam the streets looking for our next fix, willing to do anything in our power to get it.

For you entranced by Fox News and walking around with your eyes wide shut, you will more than likely disagree with the anti-American undertones and how the bull (US Corporations) in the china shop don't like to play by the rules, but flick the remote and look at other channels; you will soon see that the fictional exposure of corruption and manipulation is not that far off the mark of the "handshake drugs we buy downtown". The irony is that for all of the Capitalism and Democracy we are supposedly spreading, we actually are destroying the tree of liberty with our own greed and manipulation. Then again, Fox Newsies don't have to turn the channel. Just watch your boy Bill O'Reilly for a bit. I found it hugely ironic that "Papa Bear", as Colbert refers to this 5*RAH, suggested a 7 pm curfew combined with orders for soldiers to shoot to kill anyone breaking the law or looking suspicious as a solution to tame the civil war in Iraq; ironical because this happens to be the same tyrannical governance we liberated Iraq from and which Sadaam Hussein is currently being tried for. Indeed, there was a reason Bush (41) did not over-throw Sadaam Hussein during the first Gulf War-he did not want to disrupt the balance of power in the middle-east. Hussein was a "necessary evil". And American voters crucified George H.W. Bush as a weakling for not going after this 'evil foe' of America. Why? As shown in Syriana the average American just doesn't look or care about the big picture. As Clooney’s character says in the movie, “I never wanted to know before.”

If Gaghan accomplished anything with this movie it will be to get people thinking about the interconnectedness of the world and how much validity there is in what the government and the media tell us. To get you thinking here is something from the Bushido's back burner. We keep hearing about the success of democracy and elected officials in Iraq and nothing or little about the civil war in Iraq. I think that it would be safe to assume peace is on the way in Iraq. We found out yesterday that Afghanistan’s President Karzai is tired of our sh-crap; and the Afghanis want us out. And I think Iraq is soon to follow. If the Iraqis are the success (the Administration) says their government is, they will soon negotiate peace between the warring tribes in Iraq. Once peace is in place, the U.S. really has no reason to maintain a military presence in Iraq. How hypocritical of our own 3rd Amendment would we be to force Iraqis to harbor American troops? The answer: Very, but no one would care because the perceptions will soon change for your average, yellow ribbon, Joe American who wants the troops to come home. HST had it right; fear and loathing of our addiction to oil will come into effect in both our politics and business. The Republicans will brand Democrats as wanting to cut and run, Iran will become a "more serious" threat, and our dealers (Big Oil) will need protection as they steal the most valuable resource on the planet from the deserts of Iraq, benefiting junkies (consumers) by knocking 25 cents off the price at the pump and benefiting their own gold lined pockets. The neighborhood (mid-east) will still lack infrastructure and continue to become more dangerous as those without jobs, hope or a voice will soon find crime or religious fanaticism as their only hope, which sadly is a very dangerous situation for us all. My father used to say "there is nothing in this world more dangerous than a young, impressionable man, with no hope and no job" sadly, unless we change our ways and end our addictions those words will soon be as haunting as a video left behind by a suicide-bomber. Our world has changed post-9-11; I think it is time we change as well.