In 2000, I went to go see "Traffic", and it took 147 minutes to tell us that the War on Drugs just isn't working, and that we have to try something else, something that I pretty well agree with. And today, Jeff and I went to go see Syriana at the $1.50 theater, whose screenplay was written by the same person as Traffic, and it took 126 minutes (an improvement!) to tell us that the U.S.'s policy and practices in the Middle East just aren't working (which I also agree with.) Then again, as I told Jeff, the kind of people who go see movies like this are the ones who are more than likely going to agree with it.

It was well done. It was interesting, as always, seeing a region that I've spent so much time studying up on the big screen (and to wonder how accurate the film was). Watching George Clooney speak Farsi was trippy, and Matt Damon did a nice job as the awkward, semi-clueless white boy. So, worth watching, if you're interested in such matters, but be warned, it's filmed just like Traffic, down to the bad guys winning, the short, choppy scenes, and the 18 story lines that don't come together until the last 20 minutes or so.