Narnia and Syriana

The words Narnia and Syriana almost rhyme, but the similarities end there. I was worried that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe would be a piece of right wing Christian propaganda, but it turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining, magical fantasy with a theme song from Alanis Oralslut, uh, I mean Morissette. Seriously, though, like Star Wars and The Matrix, there are themes of prophecy and resurrection. The "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" are called to wage a holy war against the forces of evil. Unlike in the Bible, though, the resurrected ones in all these movies are warriors. I think the war in this movie, unlike the war in Iraq, would qualify as "just" according to the criteria outlined by Saints Augustine and Aquinas mentioned in my December 9 book reviews below. Still, I’m a little uncomfortable with the idea of Santa as an arms dealer.

It would be nice if everyone saw Syriana, but I’m afraid they won’t because it’s complex and slower-moving with a lot of talking. Like Crash, it has a lot of characters and an interwoven plot. There’s George Clooney as a CIA agent expended by his own country; Alexander Siddig as a Saudi Prince who wants democracy and women’s rights; Matt Damon as a corporate profiteer who argues for a measured oil drawdown; and Mazhar Munir as a laid-off Pakistani oil worker who is indoctrinated into his own holy war. This movie is exceedingly relevant to today’s world. Anyone who wants to complain about the price of gas needs to see this movie.