by StarmanSkye » Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:22 am
WoW-- Great head's up, heyjt -- verrrry interesting, re: Gaghjan had to tone-down the movie's realism to keep it believeable. I gotta see this movie -- it should help provide context 'color' to the sometimes dry plodding through parapolitical text (like seeing the 'movie' version adds depth to an already fascinating novel). BTW: Were you referring to Robert Baer, the inspiration for Clooney's character? I only found reference to Charlie Rose interviewing Gaghan -- who nevertheless did much of his own Middle East research and met many noteable characters, ie. the Spiritual leader of Hezbollah.<br> <br>I found some info/comment links and a download of the interview below -- too bad I have a clunky dial-up. I'd like to find a transcript at least.<br>Starman<br><br>Syriana Movie Reviews:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365737/usercomments">www.imdb.com/title/tt0365...ercomments</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>***<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.kingwho.com/mobile/geargab.htm">www.kingwho.com/mobile/geargab.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>December 10, 2005 <br>Drilling for Oil <br><br>My brother and I went to see Syriana today and then we rewatched the bittorrent of last night's Charlie Rose interview with Syriana's director and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan. The movie was really interesting and like his earlier movie Traffic nobody comes out of this looking good. <br><br>The Charlie Rose interview had many things that I found just as interesting. The cast of shady oil men, lawyers, politicians, CIA, Middle Easterners that he met in real life to bring this fictional tale together made a story that was too unbelievable to be told. He actually had to tone down reality to make this story work.<br><br>The only thing wrong with the interview was that Gaghan said the 70 percent of the worlds oil was in the hands of country's that the US is at war with. I don't think that is correct. I will dig in. If anyone else knows the truth to this please email me. <br><br>Go see Syriana it will be one of the few smart movies of the season. But then again I haven't seen the Usher movie yet. <br><br>****<br>Charlie Rose Interview with Syraina Director/Writer Steve Gaghan:<br>232 MB Torrent Download<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.chomskytorrents.org/Torrents.php?Action=ChangePage&Page=3#">www.chomskytorrents.org/T...ge&Page=3#</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>(Lotta good movies and documentaries here!)<br>****<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://affectedclapping.com/?p=166">affectedclapping.com/?p=166</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>A Great Interview »Stephen Gaghan<br><br>I few days ago I saw Syriana. I liked it. Then I watched an interview with the writer/director on the Charlie Rose show, and was convinced that I had to go see this movie again. I obviously missed quite a bit. Gaghan is an educated man, and the stories he told, from meeting the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, to sitting around with a bunch of oil tycoons as they bet on which nation would be next to have an oil related coup d’etat, got my blood going and made me want to quit my job and travel the world doing thrill seeking shit. And reading more about the middle east. And about American foreign policy. And european foreign policy for that matter (when we had an embargo against Iraq in the mid-nineties most of europe was cashing in on our principles–they didn’t give a shit). <br><br>Anyway, he’s posted a short “blog” entry, which you can read here: <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20051208/cm_huffpost/011870;_ylt=A86.I2yR05dDzBwA0Qb9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA">news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost...bnN1YmNhdA</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>-- It barely scratches the surface.<br><br>For an interesting interview with Bob Baer (George Clooney’s character), check out this site:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/baer.html">www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/fr.../baer.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>***<br>Syriana Movie Spoiler:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/syriana.html">www.themoviespoiler.com/S...riana.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>***<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://thestressblog.com/2005/12/12/syriana/">thestressblog.com/2005/12/12/syriana/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>In the new flick “Syriana”, a character gives a speech which is quickly working its way into the lexicon of great movie speeches. It happens to be about oil and corruption. Having read it, I’m still not sure what to make of it, especially given that I haven’t seen the flick. At any rate, here it is;<br><br>Danny: Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Brown, thinks he’s gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, no-name congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. (mimics prosecutor) “But, Danny, these are sovereign nations.” Sovereign nations! What is a sovereign nation, but a collective of greed run by one individual? “But, Danny, they’re codified by the U.N. charter!” Legitimized gangsterism on a global basis that has no more validity than an agreement between the Crips and the Bloods! (Beat) … Corruption charges. Corruption? Corruption ain’t nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That’s Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around here instead of fighting each other for scraps of meat out in the streets. (Beat) Corruption … is how we win.<br><br>Posted by Brandon <br><br> <p></p><i></i>