Syrianna

Kind of like Illiana, the combination of IN and IL. But no where near the midwest.

The strength of this film is visual, and the editing is minimalist. We are whisked from one scene to the next and made to put together the pieces. Now if you're a puzzle person you will like that. If you need things spelled out for you, this is not a good show. It is precicely, however, this type of editing that reflects the goals and ambitions of the project. We are kept engaged in a global spider web. We see bits and pieces of it, and very close up, and gradually we are drawn back until the entire web comes into focus. At first it looks like a few dewy, drippy lines of rope, and then when we get further back we see it for the huge trap that it is.

This is of course the filmmaker's view of politics. It's all tied together. But craftily they don't just want to spell it out for you. This does one of two things. We give up somewhere and proclaim "it's all too complex", or, and this is what makes the issues at hand compelling and believable (note that I'm not saying that the actual facts that are given to us are believeable in themselves), we come to the great "Ah hah!" that the story has been desigend to bring us to, and we therefore feel a great sense of personal discovery and enlightenment. This heightened state of involvement creates a buy-in for us. The buy-in is inclusive of Clooney's character, as we discover that he is an unwitting accomplice to destructive U.S. govt. policy and concurrent behavior; ergo, we side with him in his "quest for the truth". Dito with the Matt Damon character, and unwitting accomplace from the Swiss Banking end of the deal, and equally outraged at being used and abused, and wined and dined at the expense of his ethics. All of this is peachy if you buy into those kinds of politics. But of course who trusts their government any more, right? Since no one does it seems, we are open to this kind of thinking: the massive consipiracy. The reason that a film like this will succeed however, over and against a film like Farenheit 9/11, is because of it's understated agenda. It's much easier to buy into "fiction". We never feel as if we are being preached to in an action flick.

Very much in the vein of the original Manchurian Candidate, the gradual unfolding of the plot and the confidence we have in the hero of the story both lead us to the inexorable conclusion that all is not right with our current policy. We of course do not trust institutions that we rarely see the inside of or know of their policy, so the movement within the CIA, in particular by it's biggest directors and action figures, is belieable. We either believe that what they are doing is actually OUTSIDE the knowledge of the chiefs of staff or the presidency, or that somehow the upper management knows of it and is purposefully not directly involved, either way implicating a strong government involvement in direct manipulation of a foreign power's political choices, and all of that resultant from commercial concerns. The differnce between this film and the Manchurian Candidate would be that in the Candidate the manipulation takes place in the foreign power with designs on our own. You know, Candidate was banned for quite some time. I saw no smoke about this from any DC based committees...

Devil's Advocate Note:
Well, it certainly was a sad trip. The "good guys" get killed in the end, and all by our dear military. We are supposed to feel saddened by our own greed and licentiousness, and, according to the commercial at the end, start making an immediate gravitation away from our dependence on oil. We've got to stop encouraging the Arabs to just put up hotels and theme parks with their money and allow them to start building for the future without an oil based economy! That's what we're doing now folks: playing the whore and taking Vegas to them and not teaching them the value of savings! Without a fair shake from us now we will just be taking their money and leaving them with multimillion dollar roller-coasters and no electricity to run them with! Then where will they be, huh? You can't eat a roller-coaster! These poor ignorant Arabs can't think for themselves, so we've got to stop our government manipulation on levels like this! I'm so damned fired up about this I'm just liable to go jump in my SUV and ride right down to my congressman's headquarters, take him out to lunch, and give him a wake up call! So outbid the Chinese and give them what they need over there! Schools, and clinics, and football!

Man on Fire

I will never forget that little face. It could be because I have a sweet little blonde on her way to being just like that. I’d be on fire too if my girl was taken like that, taking a shot in the chest and cutting off fingers to find out who dunnit. It wasn’t even his little girl. But somebody like that would get under a man’s skin without too much encouragement. This just took about 40 laps in a pool, a few hugs, and naming her bear after him. Replacement father happens while real one is away. Maybe the hypocrisy of the real dad came through by comparison, kind of like a silent effect. Kids know who real people are without a great deal of thinking.

I thought this was one of the most engaging thrillers/mysteries/action dramas I’ve seen in awhile, not just for its high tension but because of the deeply personal and believable background story. But mostly, and this is not a first, the on-screen presence of Denzel Washington is unbelievable. He absolutely sizzles, again. His understated tension can almost be felt in this story with your eyes closed; walking TNT with Nitro sweat rolling off of him.

Now deep into the story when the stakes are high and we are drawing to a conclusion, the friend played by Christopher Walken is a little overplayed in the scene where he begins to describe Creasey’s “Masterpiece” (albeit it is true). That made the whole thing just a little too melodramatic for me, and that was the first time in the flow of the story that I broke out of the story’s trance and became aware of the acting. However, it didn’t take long for the story to close in again. I just would have directed that scene somewhat differently. Right idea and timed well in the story line, but over the top.

Walken in all other parts of the story makes a perfect compliment to Washington. Their friendship is genuine and warm and immediately bankable. Their past is made equally mysterious and adds perfect weight to the story, and power. We really don’t need to know the full story to feel the power behind whoever Creasy might have been, or exactly what he had done. The line, “Do you think God will ever forgive us for what we’ve done?”, is just plain great writing. It is, of course the entire theme of the story carried forward to the beginning, ending with a close up of the failing grasp of a hand on the figure of St. Jude.

All through the poignant story is the search for redemption and justice. It is classic bad guys and corruption vs. lone ranger with an edge. And the Lone Ranger is flawed by the past and predilection to alcohol, turning to the relationship with the little girl, and to God to get a grip. His personal turning point of putting away the bottle is not cheesy or pretentious, and his character displays genuine struggle. The consistent putting aside of the self for another, and blatantly placing himself in harm’s way, seemingly without regard for the guns of the enemy, Creasy comes off almost as a superhero, and his life takes on a very supernatural air, defying death, all the while seeming almost nonchalant about his dance with it. Particularly powerful were the brief glimpses of Creasy in a pool with his continued bleeding mixing with the clear water, reminding us of his ongoing condition while also adding even more tension and the pressure of time to the already heavily climbing events.

So tension and more tension is the word for this film, and a strong sense of story that carries us forward and sticks with you afterward. I have not been this engaged and felt such dramatic buildup since my first experience with the Russian film “Come and See”. So if you haven’t “gone and seen” this one, rent the disk, and make sure the kids are asleep. Not for the squeamish, nor those who need sleep.

Rate: 7 out of 10 Klodneys.