Film through law. Law through film.
Law on Film podcast explores the rich connections between law and film. While law is critical to many films, films also show how the law is perceived and portrayed. Each episode looks at a different film. What does the film get right about the law? What does is get wrong? And what does the film tell us about the larger social and cultural context in which law operates?
Latest Episode
Syriana
Guest: Margaret (“Peggy”) McGuinness
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, based loosely on former CIA case officer Robert Baer’s memoir, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. The film weaves together multiple storylines that involve a CIA agent, a U.S. energy analyst, a major transnational law firm, and an oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom. It tackles complex themes of corruption, power, and terrorism from a distinctly post-9/11 vantage point. The film also suggests how law operates in transnational settings and how it seeks—but often fails—to tame the forces of ambition, greed, and power that drive the oil industry and America’s role in it.
