alright, justseen it yesterday. first thing thing that hit me was the similarity with another movie with a huge message "TRAFFIC" which was WRITTEN by stepehen gaghan, the same guy who DIRECTED syriana. how oil business affects the prince, the investment banker (damon), abused cheap labor (pakis), the law firms, the father of the black of laywer, the CIA, etc ect. same thing with Traffic where the drug trade affects people all ax the board from the drug czar in the US (michael douglas), his druggie daughter, the mexican drug czar, the double agent (benicio del toro), the drug dealer, the prostitutes etcc etcc.

i dont buy for a second tha syriana was racist or stereotypical to arabs. it captured the good and bad in mideast, washington, europe etc.

interstng how the movie went out of its way to show that the sheikhdom was NOT meant to be Saudi Arabia, yet the whole idea of the succession of the king was inspired from saudi arabia i.e. how king abdullah--known to be less pro US than the late Fahd--and is known to have the pull of the armed forces as well as the favor of the tribal leaders.

i also liked how they portrated the conversion process (brainwashing process) of the pakis--how the imam didnt exactly succeed-- but the young egyptian guy managed to do it by "relating" to them-- playing soccer with them, etcc etc....

but im afraid from one thing and that is the quickness and substantiveness of the movie may be a little too quick for the average notsobright american to grasp the full message, i.e. corruption/oversight in the US runs in corporate america as well as Intelligence america.

its a shame no dirt was stained on Congress.

Great Stuff !!

might see it today. i heard from many that it's "complicated". not sure what's so complicated abt a movie that tells teh obvious story oif US govt conspiring with Big Oil to have their way in the Gulf countries, and useing a little CIA muscle to pave the way for their money-oil trade. i hear clooney's portrayal of the real life CIA operative was quite ...real.

Thanks mo, you are always so helpful ;)

Theater. Its good, plus with Munich coming up- I'm sure there will be lots of talk about both...

I dont think it was wise for me to read this since I havent seen the movie yet...but I am hoping I didnt completley ruin it for myself. Anyway, with Munich coming out this weekend, I was trying to get a feel for this one so I can decide what to see...so would you guys recommend the movie in theaters, or should I just wait till it comes out on DVD?

I feel like I need to see it again...
I thought the movie was good... keeping in mind that it was Hollywood...

I thought the portrayal of the South Asians in the gulf was certainly called for... ironically in the past month there was an article in GQ about Dubai- which talked extensively about the "faceless indentured servants" in the region... also, Dr. Zogby from the Arab American Institute was in Bahrain recently and brought up the issue (that these people need to be represented and taken care of) ... which drew lots of criticism. Personally having lived in Saudi as a child- I remember always wondering why everyone who swept the streets and did all the labor jobs were South Asian... I was glad they brought it up... for us as Arabs to see.

Regarding the terror aspect, I didnt particularly like how the sheikh guy indoctrinated the disenfranchised youth... but then again- we do see that somewhat in the Middle East (maybe not in the Hollywood style way...)

Regarding the corruption issue... that spoke for itself and made my blood boil.

The issue with the Khaliji prince- again I thought it was very important to address... I think its somewhat accurate to my knowledge (again keeping in mind that this is a hollywood production)... The point was to show that there are sellouts on both sides...

Alexander Siddiq- who was the good sheikh had mentioned in an interview recently that he doesnt mind playing bad arabs as long as he gets to play good arabs too... simply because there are good and bad arabs in the world... just as there are good and bad non-arabs... i thought that was fair enough...

I particularly liked how the sheikh from Hizbollah saved George Clooney's life... It was enough to get the audience thinking.

Damon's character was there all cocky and whatnot... underestimating the sheikh- who promptly put him in his place...

Of course Damon returns to his suburban home and sits on his pottery barn couch... which is a bit retarded way to finish the film, but hey... it may have been done like that intentionally.

The film wasnt perfect by any means, but I really did enjoy it because since 9-11 hollywood has actually become more sensitive to Arabs & Muslims - that previous hatred has unfortunately been transferred to news bias and commentary - which people can now see as "truth" whereas previously hollywood was "just a movie" ... now I'm waiting on Munich - its got Israelis thoroughly pissed off from what I'm gathering.

ha ha ha I just saw it today... and I am still tryna digest all the details... but overall the movie is really good, as far the issues they tried to approach.

Just saw it last weekend, it sure is a very good thriller and it depicts real-life scenarios about the corruption related to oil, and about the racist way Corporate Khaleej Arabia treats colored foreigners (from Asia), about terrorism, suicide bombing and politics. It makes you think and allures to a lot of symbolism (eventhough it is exagerated).

It does not show a balanced view of Muslims though.. it associates practising Muslims (prayers/religious talks) with programmable suicide bombers, and shows the other Muslims as being drunkards/crazy spenders/womenizers. It does not show middle-path Muslims enough to give a fair overview (prince nasser was one but they did not associate his character a lot with religion.. trying to view it from a non-Muslim western point of view)

It is a great thriller worth watching though...

I didn't see it yet, but i will keep both of your points of view on it when i am watching it this weekend...
Well i was wondering has anyone watched the mini series on Showtime " SLEEPER CELL " . If anyone has? What is your prospective on it?

Just saw it. Good movie with a good message. I do question the accuracy though. I'm sure some of what the movie shows depicts real life, but some of it might be far fetched.

I can't say I followed the whole movie. Perhaps partially because it's bits and pieces from the book (which I haven't read.) But...

I thought it was stereotypical of Arabs. Showed them as violent, racist, lavish, stupid, etc. Only one person/prince was educated and civilized (but heartless.)

I was quite disturbed by how they showed the way they treat some people/labor. Especially that I have lived there for some time and haven't seen it. Not saying it's true or false.

The US government and oil companies coprruption and interest in the region.. no comment. But it might be eye opening for some.

What did you think, Mohamed?