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Syriana,
a geopolitical thriller based on a novel by Robert Baer, was directed and
written by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winner writer of
Traffic. Given the similarities
between both films, it wouldn't have been a surprise to see
Traffic's Cliff Martinez return
to score Syriana. But Gaghan
hired the French composer Alexandre Desplat. After having scoring over 60
films in France, in a short amount of time beginning few years ago with Girl with a
Pearl Earring, that earned him a Golden Globe nomination,
Alexandre Desplat developed a solid career in Hollywood - with seven films
featuring his music only in 2005.
With a new Golden Globe nomination for Best Score,
Syriana joins
Birth and
Hostage as the composer's most
widely recognized works. These films are not the usual blockbusters though,
and share some musical similarities; however
Syriana's score sounds much more
like Cliff Martinez's ambient music than Desplat's own orchestral efforts.
The film dramatizes the international oil industry with multiple storylines,
and the composer choose to employ an ensemble consisting of a small string
and percussion orchestra, plus piano and Middle Eastern instruments like
duduk and ney. The duduk, played by Djivan Gasparyan, is offered in a far
more authentic manner than typically heard in American ethnic scores. But
like the ney and cello performances, a very subtle mix is used to
incorporate the instrument to the soundtrack.
Desplat's intention was to restrain his music to create a nuance score that
avoids overpowering the emotional tales of the characters - in other words,
to not compete with the drama of their situations. Consequently, Desplat's
two notes title theme is restrained and sad, developed mainly on strings and
piano ("Syriana (piano solo)", "Falcons", "Fathers and Sons"). The album
offers it's most active rhythmic cue near its opening, with "Driving in
Geneva", that features a repetitive, hipnotic electric bass, or other
synthetic equivalent. A highlight of this track is the piano on top of a
magnificent scherzo.
Desplat uses the ostinato as his approach to the violence, makes a
threatening use of the timbals ("Ill Walk Around ", "Truce"), introduces an
attractive Arabic percussion in the energetic "Beirut Taxi" and explores two
motifs in "The Abduction", closed by an intense and wild orquestal chaos.
However, despite all these efforts
Syriana is not an easy listening experience. On disc its
minimalistic, cold and sometimes its impermeable or dense structure,
isolated from the images,
fails to express the suspense or intrigue typical for this kind of thriller.
With its low key approach, Syriana
is not the kind of score that you will listen very often. Although to be a
unique work in comparison to today's Hollywood mainstream production (and
this can be considered a quality), at least for me its a difficult score to
appreciate. |
