it's the corruption, stupid

I've been dieting (sort of) and working out (excessively) for the past week, and after a net loss of a hard-fought one (!) pound, had developed a craving for a $5.25 Bucket o' Popcorn with a Butter-like Substance on Top. Only a trip to the local theater would satisfy.

So we finally caught Syriana, George Clooney's slightly confusing but brainy and brilliant collage of a film about American and Saudi oil interests, and the roles that power and corruption play in the Middle East and within the hallowed halls of our own government.

Told through the eyes of a number of players in a non-linear fashion, political issues evolve from the personal as individual stories serve to illuminate global trends. In one plot line, we see how bone-crushing poverty and oppression can leave an essentially ordinary and decent Muslim youth vulnerable to seduction in the well-funded madrasas of radical Islam; in another, a young American financial planner is beguiled by the wealth and democratic ideology of a Saudi prince.

I won't pretend to have understood all the various threads of the individual plot lines ~ the details surrounding the actions of a young Washington lawyer with father issues were particularly elusive. In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Clooney indicated that he didn't want to play down to the audience by taking them by the hand and walking them through everything; that he wanted to drop us down right in the middle of the action, and make us figure it out for ourselves. I personally found it to be a very effective approach ~ this is, after all, how we often experience life ~ and at no point was I tempted to check out, remaining focused and engaged throughout the entire film, which brims with bitter insight into the workings of the American power elite.

"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. Corruption is why we win."

Chilling.

Fast-paced and literate, Syriana is a must-see movie for anyone who's not buying into the Bush Administration's happy talk about a war fought to 'free the Iraqi people', thus spreading comfort and joy throughout the land. I know one thing for certain.

Even behind that beard and an additional 30 pounds, George Clooney cannot hide the essential fabulousness of his hunky self. There's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere. If I could only figure out what it is.