Lord of War (Widescreen)
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Actor: Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Nicolas Cage, Shake TukhmanyanBrand: LIONS GATE HOME ENT.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); German (Original Language); Russian (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); Turkish (Original Language); Ukrainian (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Lord of War (Widescreen)
DVD Review: "Where there's a will, there's a weapon"
Summary: 4 Stars
In reading about the Third Reich (which I've done quite a bit, even though it's not the most pleasant subject matter), one element I noticed running through many commentaries was that of the banality of evil, referring to the strange tendency of the most ruthless Nazi functionaries to be regular people who went about their jobs the way most of the rest of us do, with little if any thought given to the massive human suffering involved. Sadly, that's usually the way it is: evil is good at hiding. The most morally bankrupt people-gansters, tyrants, drug lords, U.S. Senators-generally aren't raving, slobbering maniacs, but instead can often be found hiding behind nice suits and slick smiles. So it is with Yuri Orlov, the moral vacuum at the center of Andrew Nicol's frequently inspired Lord of War. This is some excellent political filmmaking: dark, hilarious, and unflinching, with occasional but suitably brutal depictions of violence and general depravity, all framed with Cage's matter-of-fact voice-over narration.
This movie basically does for gunrunners what Goodfellas did for gangsters: there's no real plot per se; it just captures several extended snapshots from a life and career spent on the wrong side of the law. All the basic elements of Martin Scorcese's classic portrayal of Henry Hill's life can be found here-the meteoric rise, the materialistic excess, the twisted characters and violent deaths, the myriad family problems-but Lord of War adds ample doses of the kind of black humor that made Dr. Strangelove and Fight Club such subversive classics. Moreover, where the power and influence of the Mafia have subsided since the events of Goodfellas transpired, this movie makes clear that the gun trade is still very much alive and well. As Yuri himself says late in the movie, his work may be evil, but it's a necessary evil, ensuring that business will always be good.
Played by Nicolas Cage in the best work I've seen from him next to his dual role in Adaptation (which was some of the best acting I've ever seen from anybody, so I doubt he'll ever top it), Yuri's a friendly enough guy with a nice deadpan sense of humor, capable of compartmentalizing his life to the point where he can sell weapons to the most brutal of dictators under the rationalization that he doesn't control what they do. Besides, while it may be a dirty job, someone's gotta do it. Yuri basically just buys enthusiastically into the capitalist notion of getting what he can when he can, without getting caught up in the tangled web of loyalties that characterizes foreign relations. After all, if people are going to kill each other (and they are) and someone's going to profit from it, he reasons, it might as well be him. The early going of Lord of War follows Yuri around the world as he sells to anyone, anywhere, anytime (but not to Osama Bin Laden: back in the '80's, his checks frequently bounced).
While Yuri himself is resolutely nonpolitical in his endeavors, the movie places his activities squarely within the changing face of world politics as the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union leaves a vacuum that Yuri's only too happy to fill. Starting with his first sale of an Uzi in New York's heavily Ukrainian Little Odessa, Yuri quickly graduates to wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, hitting it big when his uncle sells him a mother lode of former Red Army stock. From there it's on to Africa, becoming the arms dealer of choice for a vicious Liberian dictator and his insane son (memorably portrayed by Eamonn Walker and some guy whose name I can't remember, respectively). Lord of War gives us a look at some of the nuts and bolts of arms dealing, focusing heavily on Yuri's efforts to stay one step ahead of driven Interpol agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke, all righteous indignation and selflessness, at least on the surface), but the movie is more a character study than anything else, examining the traits that enable someone to profit from the enabling of war and mass murder (to the extent that the two concepts can be considered separate, anyway). Yuri is able to succeed largely because of his unique moral flexibility, a trait that allows him to overtake former arms-dealing kingpin Simeon Weisz (Ian Holm), who's hindered by his pesky habit of taking sides. Sure, Yuri has reservations at times, but the temptation offered by a big score always outweighs the satisfaction of earning an honest buck.
Yuri is periodically joined in his dealings by his kid brother Vitaly, who's everything Yuri isn't: wild, undisciplined, equally prone to orgiastic drug use and sex and paralyzing attacks of conscience. As played by Jared Leto, Vitaly is the voice of sanity and conscience in a business that has no room for either, making him conspicuously less fit for the job than his brother. Yuri also winds up with a pretty trophy wife in the form of his childhood dream girl Ava (played by Bridget Moynahan, better known in my neck of the woods as Tom Brady's girlfriend). Since Ava's never achieved anything in her life beyond looking good, it's a rather thankless role, but Bridget does what she can in her few dramatic moments.
I must say, some of the more critical analyses of this movie on this site have left me a bit perplexed. Some people seem to be interpreting it as another hand-wringing "message movie" from the Hollywood left, but I don't really see too heavy-handed an agenda here beyond showing what an ugly place the world often is. If anything, it aims to illustrate the moral bankruptcy behind the lofty claims of those who proclaim themselves patriots, freedom fighters, or other such high-minded labels. After one of his deals leads to a massacre of Sierra Leonean civilians, Yuri muses that people say evil prevails when good men do nothing, when they should just say evil prevails. In a world filled with bigotry, hatred, and violence, it's not that hard to see his point.
Description of Lord of War (Widescreen)
THIS CHARTS THE RISE & FALL OF YURI ORLOV, FROM THE EARLY 80S IN LITTLE ODESSA, SELLING GUNS TO MOBSTERS IN HIS LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD, INTO THE EARLY 90S, WHERE HE FORMS A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP WITH AN AFRICAN WARLORD & HIS PSYCHOTIC SON.Bestsellers in DVD
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