Syriana (2005)
Syriana is a 2005 American geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer’s 2003 memoir See No Evil. Syriana was shot in 200 locations in five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film. As with Gaghan’s screenplay for Traffic, Syriana uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping between locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon.
U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key oil fields in a Persian Gulf Kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate’s foreign minister, Prince Nasir, has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. To compensate for its decreased production capacity, Connex initiates a shady merger with Killen, a smaller oil company that recently won the drilling rights to Kazakhstan’s Tengiz Field. If Connex-Killen were a country, it would rank as the world’s twenty-third largest economy, and antitrust regulators at the DOJ have concerns. A Washington, D.C.-based law firm headed by Dean Whiting is hired to smooth the way for the merger. Bennett Holiday is assigned to promote the impression of due diligence to the DOJ, deflecting any allegations of corruption.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
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Syriana is a 2005 American geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer’s 2003 memoir See No Evil. Syriana was shot in 200 locations in five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film. As with Gaghan’s screenplay for Traffic, Syriana uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping between locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon.
U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key oil fields in a Persian Gulf Kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate’s foreign minister, Prince Nasir, has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. To compensate for its decreased production capacity, Connex initiates a shady merger with Killen, a smaller oil company that recently won the drilling rights to Kazakhstan’s Tengiz Field. If Connex-Killen were a country, it would rank as the world’s twenty-third largest economy, and antitrust regulators at the DOJ have concerns. A Washington, D.C.-based law firm headed by Dean Whiting is hired to smooth the way for the merger. Bennett Holiday is assigned to promote the impression of due diligence to the DOJ, deflecting any allegations of corruption.