7. Syriana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTa2PTcycyI Stephen Gaghans incisive 2005 political thriller may have won George Clooney the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but what's really worth talking about is the questions it raised about the Middle East in its wake. The film is specifically focused on the oil industry out there, and how it affects everyone both in the region and back in the US, opening to wide critical and commercial acclaim. What followed, however, nobody could have anticipated. Reportedly thousands of people who saw the film subsequently wrote to American Congress, asking for the US to lessen its dependency on foreign oil reserves, in the hope that it would in turn lessen violence and instability in the region. Though any step made in the process is a baby-step, it's incredibly rare that a film can make so many so righteously angry. It's a rare issue that also managed to bring left-wingers and right-wingers together; how often does that ever happen?
Shaun Munro
Contributor
Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.
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