OxBlog |
Front page
|
Sunday, March 05, 2006
# Posted 9:20 AM by Patrick Belton
Go on, read the whole article - it's persuasively argued, and entertainingly written. (5) opinions -- Add your opinion
Comments:
I agree. And where Syriana really fails is in denouncing the influence of national socialism on the Arab states. By selecting a UAE-style, benevolent Gulf monarchy as its setting, the film misses the point of what's really wrong in the Middle East - republican totalitarian dictatorships like Libya, Syria, Saddam's Iraq, or Nasser's Egypt.
It's a bit like making an allegedly anti-fascist film in 1930's Europe and selecting Latvia under Ulmanis or Lithuania under Smetona as the most represenative example... Ridiculous.
This is Coulteresque dreck.
judging from Clooney’s example, if you want to drive a man to become a radical opponent of his government, just give him millions of dollars and a house in the Hollywood hills. And they go on about the wealth of the royals and the poverty of the masses in oil countries, suggesting (i think at least) that Syriana neglects to reflect this point from Baer's books. But um, Syriana doesn't. There is a major episode that I think takes place in Marbella. There are plenty wealthy and corrupt oil oligarchs. I don't get what the beef is. That Texan oil men are portrayed negatively (or powerful) at all? I'm not sure the authors of this article saw the movie. They sure didn't have to see the movie to write this article. And if the point is that the movie isn't true to Baer (the only thing I've read of his was an Atlantic article) why is Baer behind the movie? Does he just not get it? Is he a hollywood sellout? While I like Syriana a lot I do think it was unexpectedly light on the political content and much more of a thriller than the buzz indecated.
Don't forget it's just fiction. Syriana is for todays film world what Traffic was for the drug world. While well intentioned academics may argue the dymainics and accuracies of the content.
For a whole generation of people, this may be the first time they have come across these issues. Perhaps they may need a little sugar with their tea. Isn't it important to entertain as well as inform? For my money I'm glad he got the oscar, his performance was worth it. Did Oxblog see the film?
We saw the movie, read both of Baer's books, the Atlantic Monthly article and the Syriana screenplay. I invite you to do the same.
I've always thought that nothing says "classy" like comparing an actor who has, on occasion, been critical of government policy to a mass-murdering terrorist.
Post a Comment
Sonia: from a CT point of view, the problem is indeed with the "benevolent monarchies" such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose citizens fund and in part staff al-Qaeda and promulgate radical Islam - not with the admittedly unpleasant secular dictatorships.
|