Review: Lord of War Cast: Nicolas Cage Bridget Moynahan Jared Leto Ian Holm Ethan Hawke Directed and Written by: Andrew Niccol "You know who is going to inherit the world? Arms dealers – because everyone else it too busy killing each other." (Yuri Orlov in Lord Of War) In his latest production writer and director Andrew Niccol deals with one of the biggest and most relevant issues today affecting millions of people's lives: arms trading. He tells the story of Ukrainian-born Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) who realised the American Dream in a slightly diverse way – becoming the Lord of War. After escaping from the Soviet regime together with his family Yuri tries to lead a regular life in the U.S. However, the family's situation – having a little restaurant in New York with his brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) as unfit chef – is anything but satisfactory in his view. After the end of the Cold War he uses his motherland connections to sell some Ex-Soviet arms and guns from Ukraine to Africa. The attraction is huge cause he cannot only earn incredible amounts of money with his new occupation but for the first time in his life he gets the feeling that he is doing something, which he is really good at. The film documents around 20 years of Yuri's life as an arms dealer, who by the time becomes one of the most important private people in this business and supplies warlords all over the world. Offering the watcher more than a glimpse of the personal side of the character, Nicholas Cage again shows his talent of combining cold-bloodedness with the picture of desperate ordinary Joe – greedy for success and recognition. Especially the relationship to his brother Vitaly, who becomes his "war-dealing" assistant, is extremely moving. Vitaly seems to have to atone the sins of his elder brother– Jared Leto ("Requiem For A Dream") in one of his best roles as broken-down addict, "dying" in almost every scene, trying to blow all the worries out of his mind with the help of Cocaine, alcohol and girls. By the time the brothers' attitudes diverge more and more. In one of the last scenes Vitaly tries to convince his brother not to close a deal with a leader in Sierra Leone when next to the bargaining table he sees a camp of civilians who the guns they are selling assumably will be pointed at. Yuri just reminds his younger brother "This is not your fight." and focuses on some diamonds again. As writer-director Andrew Niccol mentions in his comments, he wanted to portray people who are "operating with different moral codes". What he might not have expected is how closely he got involved into the arms trading business through shooting such a film. The stories he tells are almost surreal; such as in one of the scenes Yuri supplies guns to Sierra Leone with an airplane which had actually been used one week before the shoot for an arms shipment to Congo by a real-life guns dealer. For another scene Andrew Niccol purchased 3000 real Kalashnikovs since they were cheaper than fake guns. He was absolutely stunned about how easy it was to get them. In an impressive picture Yuri is doing business in front of an uncountable number of tanks; all of them were real ones and one month later they were sold to Libya. Watching the film with the director's commentary you can listen to countless episodes similar to the ones described above. And the connections between shooting the film and reality are quite stunning. Andrew Niccol has done thorough research work and effectively combined facts with fakes in Lord Of War.  Some of the best-done fakes are the sceneries of the all in all 13 different countries Yuri travels to. All of them were constructed and shot in South Africa and it surely must have been an immense effort to stage the different cultures and ways-of-life in one location only – not to mention the time spent on finding suitable extras for the different nations. However, the film encapsulates more than the aesthetically beautiful and emotional pictures by the extremely gifted cinematographer Amir M. Mokri; it is worth mentioning one of the first scenes of the film: the impressive montage of a bullet, accompanying it for a life-span – from the production facility till it ends up in a child soldiers head. The film broaches the big issue of illegal and legal supply of small arms and weapons to developing countries. While the whole (Western) world seems to be concerned about nuclear weapons, which certainly mean a big threat, hardly anybody discusses the uncountable numbers of casualties and deceased through the use of these small guns. The economic sector of arms trading is not to underestimate, as Rachel Stohl (Senior Analyst, Centre of Defence) points out: There are around 600 million small arms and weapons worldwide. The world's biggest arm suppliers are the U.S., the U.K., Russia, France and China. They are the 5 permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which according to writer-director Andrew Niccol should actually be called "the Insecurity Council". This is what Yuri Orlov points out at the end of the film, being caught by U.S.-loyal Interpol agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), who has chased him all over the world. "The biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss!" and "I'm a necessary evil!" After having accompanied Yuri through 20 years of his arms-dealer's life, after his cold-blooded behaviour has shaken and enraged the watcher, he suddenly brings up this connection to reality. Watching the film with the director's comment you realise that many things which seemed pretty much "Hollywoodised" are in fact not that far away from reality. The so-called "defence" business, which rather should be called "war trade", has been a seldom-discussed issue in film so far. And many directors who tried to shoot a critical film ended up presenting the all-time beloved war hero, who shoots hundreds of enemies to save one friend. War trade is an incredibly absurd business – and Andrew Niccol found a good way to implement it in his film. However, without his comments and the additional information it definitely has a weaker effect. But if you like Nicholas Cage's wrinkles on his forehead, which make him look like a desperate boy begging for affection and when he switches to the hard-boiled business guy in the next moment … you will definitely like this film. To exemplify the absurdity of war trade, read the following argument for defence exports from a real arms exporter, BAE Systems, who claim to be the largest European "defence" company. It could be the perfect quotation from Yuri, the Lord of War. "Yet that is what Britain's defence is – an insurance. And if it is right and responsible for British governments to decide that Britain needs defence, then why should that not apply to other countries too. The right to engage in international commerce and the right of a nation to defend itself is enshrined in the United Nations Charter." "… there would be a huge economic loss to the UK. Total annual defence turnover is around 15bn GBP, and the UK industry is highly competitive. From 1997 to 2001, UK exports totalled $41bn. The UK is the world's second-largest defence exporter, behind the US ($92bn over the same period)…" (BAE SYSTEMS. 2002. Defence exports. New Statesman Defence Supplement 8 July 2002, p. xvii.) But what many seem to forget about, being blinded by business opportunities, is one of Yuri's major principles (also mentioned by Philipp Coyle from the World Security Institute): "Never go to war – especially with yourself."   Review by Isabella Sedlak   Recommended Literature: Noam Chomsky. The Culture of Terrorism. London: Pluto Press. (1988) William Greiner. Fortress America: The American Military and the Consequences of Peace. New York: Public Affairs. (1998) Dan Smith. The Atlas of War and Peace. London: Earthscan. (2003) Gideon Burrows. The No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade. London: Verso / New Internationalist.

 

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