Syriana

Syriana is a sophisticated movie about the wasp's nest that is the Middle East. Fabulous wealth, ruthless violence and Machiavellian machinations dominate the scene. The Middle East is as much about oil as it is about religion, as much about a struggle between progressive and conservative forces as about the battle between East and West. The movie argues, boldly for a Hollywood movie, that nothing is simple and that there are not really good guys or bad guys. In that sense, it's not only refreshing, but also vitally important. Maybe if the Bush administration could have seen this movie before going into Iraq, they'd have thought twice.