The title of the movie Syriana comes from hypothetical discussions the film's screenwriter and director Stephen Gaghan overheard in Washington think tanks about redrawing the boundaries of the Middle East and what such a mythical state might be named. The resulting film can prompt powerful discussion about the United States' role in the Middle East, our consumption of natural resources, the different faces of evil, and how greed can corrupt not just individuals but entire systems. It is politically charged material but also prophetic in the mode of Amos, Micah, and Jeremiah, calling us to do more--and to do better. In that sense, Syriana is a deeply ethical and spiritual film, well worth our wrestling with the concepts and convoluted storylines it presents us.
This study focuses on three scenes from the film that show how people just like us can get turned into foot soldiers in the economic, political, and religious conflicts that are the result of America's dependence on oil and natural gas. In the process, it explores theological and ethical questions as well as social and political ones: Where is justice? What is the nature of evil? What is truth? What is the relationship between our lives as Christians and our lives as employees and citizens? The movie challenges us with the complexity of the issues but also leaves us with hope in redemption and in the possibility that we can change, and that, of course, is the very essence of the gospel we proclaim.