Actor George Clooney attends a photocall to present his out of competition film 'Syriana' at the 56th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, February 10, 2006. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

BERLIN (Reuters) - George Clooney brought gritty reality to go with Hollywood glamour at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, launching his Middle East spy thriller "Syriana" in Europe.

Already released to favourable reviews in the United States, the story of a world-weary CIA agent caught up in the hunt for big oil resources was the highlight of the second day of the annual gathering, renowned for its hard-hitting selections.

Director Stephen Gaghan said the film was inspired by his and others' unease at the direction U.S. foreign policy had taken in recent years.

"We felt this precipitous shift to the right, the language felt very sharp and scary, the language of black and white, evil-doers and Americans," Gaghan told reporters.

Clooney said cinema was again reflecting broader concerns about events in the real world, in the same way it did in the 1960s and 1970s.

"I don't really think films lead the way," said the actor.

"(But) while we have the opportunity to push and ask questions, we're going to push and ask questions. We're not really trying to supply answers."

Clooney, nominated for three Academy awards including best supporting actor in Syriana, was inevitably asked about his, and the film's, chances of success on March 5.

"I don't think we're going to win any. There's been a lot of 'Brokeback Mountain' stuff," he said referring to Ang Lee's gay cowboy film that leads the nominations this year. "We should have made them cowboys."

Two other leading Oscar contenders, Heath Ledger and Philip Seymour Hoffman, are also expected in Berlin to promote films.

DOMINANT THEMES

Syriana bridges two important themes at this year's event.

One is the power big business wields and the corruption that sometimes goes with it, an issue also taken up by "L'Ivresse du Pouvoir" (Comedy of Power), a film that has been compared to the scandal surrounding French oil giant Elf Aquitaine.

Also in Berlin is "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price", a documentary critical of the supermarket chain's business practices.

Syriana also explores the war on terror, portraying how a young man is transformed into an Islamic extremist willing to give his life to strike Western interests in the Middle East.

British director Michael Winterbottom brings to Berlin "The Road to Guantanamo", which follows the fate of three Britons caught in Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces after the 2001 military offensive who are imprisoned at the U.S. naval base.

And Italian Oscar winner Roberto Benigni gets into serious scrapes in "La Tigre e la Neve" (The Tiger and the Snow) when he rushes to Iraq to save a girlfriend wounded in an air attack on the country shortly after the 2003 invasion began.

While Syriana is not among films vying for prizes in Berlin, competition entrant "En Soap" (A Soap) screened on Friday to a decidedly lukewarm response.

The Danish production explores the complicated relationship between a woman and her transsexual neighbor.

"Slumming", an Austrian-Swiss film also in competition, is about a pair of wealthy tricksters whose elaborate prank brings unexpected consequences.

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