What's the point of doing a leftist film if you alienate your audience?
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Although "Syriana" is deeply critical of the oil complex and the military/espionage apparatus that helps prop it up I'm not sure it's accurate to call it a "leftist" film. To me, it seemed more like a quietly morally outraged systems analysis film (for lack of a crisper phrase).
Regarding narrative confusion...
Director Stephen Gaghan, who also gave us the international drug cartel and 'war on drugs' film "Traffic" tries to present multi-threaded reality on screen - several stories move in parallel, some intersecting at points and others remaining apparently unconnected, at least on the surface.
It's admirable he pursues this approach (I speak as a person who has always been attracted to following deep linkages and logical puzzles) but it's a difficult high wire act to say the least and does run the risk of, as you say, alienating segments of your audience.
On the other hand, since the actual issues we face are extraordinarily knotty I consider "Syriana" to be good mental exercise for real-world work later (e.g. getting accustomed to and comfortable with a state of befuddlement and having to work through labyrinths - a requirement for 21st century problem solving).
.d.