Partial synopsis of the movie:
From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Traffic, comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigues and corruption of the global oil industry. From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film’s multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of the fierce pursuit of wealth and power.
At the other end of the wage scale in Nasir’s country are the migrant laborers toiling in its energy fields, […]
The movie demonstrates how unfairly these laborers are treated, summarily dismissed from their jobs after a comppany merger. They live in squalid conditions near the oil fields, spending years away from their homes and families.
And when they do go home for vacation they likely board old ‘roll-on, roll-off’ ferry boats, a high percentage of which are involved in disasters.
Egyptian Ferry Sinks in Red Sea; 1,000 May Be Lost
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Feb. 4 — A ferry carrying more than 1,400 passengers and crew, most of them Egyptian laborers returning from Saudi Arabia, sank Friday about 40 miles off the coast of Egypt, and by late evening, only 324 people had been rescued. […]
Some shouted to waiting journalists, angry that their rescue had taken so long.
“They left us in the water for 24 hours. A helicopter came above us and circled, we would signal and they ignored us,” one man shouted. “Our lives are the cheapest in the world,” another said. Lines of police kept journalists away from the survivors to prevent them asking questions.
