Lord of War

For Yukmouth mixtape, see Lord of War (album).

Lord of War
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Niccol
Written by	Andrew Niccol
Produced by	Andrew Niccol Chris Roberts Nicolas Cage Philippe Rousselet Andy Grosch Norm Golightly
Starring	Nicolas Cage Jared Leto Bridget Moynahan Ethan Hawke Eamonn Walker Ian Holm
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Edited by	Zach Staenberg
Music by	Antonio Pinto
Production company	Entertainment Manufacturing Company
Distributed by	Lions Gate Entertainment
Release dates	September 16, 2005 (2005-09-16) (United States) January 4, 2006 (2006-01-04) (France)
Running time	123 minutes
Countries	France Germany United States
Language	English
Budget	US$50 million
Box office	US$72,617,068 (worldwide)

Lord of War is a 2005 action-drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Nicolas Cage.

It was released in the United States on September 16, 2005, with the DVD following on January 17, 2006 and the Blu-ray Disc on July 27, 2006. Cage plays an illegal arms dealer with similarities to post-Soviet arms dealers Viktor Bout and Leonid Minin. The film was officially endorsed by the human rights group Amnesty International for highlighting the arms trafficking by the international arms industry.

Plot

Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage), an American gunrunner of Ukrainian origin, stands in a sea of spent shell casings. He states that with over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation, there is one firearm for every twelve people on the planet- and ponders how to arm the other eleven. The opening credits follow, set to Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth". The life of a 7.62x39mm bullet is depicted as the bullet is made in Russia, shipped to a warzone in Africa, loaded into the magazine of an AK-47 and fired into the head of a child soldier.

In 1982, through voice-over, Orlov describes the beginnings of his career. After he sees a Russian mobster kill two would-be assassins in a restaurant, he notices that the restaurant's purpose was to fulfill a necessity for food, so he decides to fulfill a necessity by providing firearms. He partners up with his brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), and forms his own arms business. Yuri's first break comes during the 1982 Lebanon War, during which he sells guns to all sides of the conflict.

As his business grows, Yuri tells of his first incident with Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), an Interpol agent who is unusually idealistic and refuses bribes of any kind. Just before Valentine and a team of Interpol agents board a freighter of Yuri's, the Kristol, he orders the crew to paint on a new name. Tricked into thinking they have found the Kono instead, the Interpol agents leave after an Interpol intelligence operative on Yuri's payroll calls in a false sighting of the Kristol.

During a business deal with a Colombian drug lord, Yuri is paid with six kilograms of cocaine instead of cash. The drug lord refuses to pay with anything else, and quickly becomes furious when Yuri argues that he deals in arms, not drugs. Shot during the argument, Yuri gives in and takes the cocaine as payment. Vitaly takes one kilogram to get high, and becomes addicted.

Yuri checks Vitaly into a drug rehabilitation center. From that point onward, he conducts his arms business alone. Soon after, he courts model Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan) after forging an elaborate scheme where Yuri lures Ava to a false photo shoot. Together, they marry and they have a child named Nikolai (Nicky).

Yuri gets his second big break after the Soviet Union dissolves. Yuri rushes to Ukraine after watching Mikhail Gorbachev's Christmas Day 1991 speech of resignation on television. He begins illegally buying tanks and other weapons from Ukraine's new military to expand his operations.

Yuri expands his weapon sales to conflicts in Africa, most notably in Liberia. His business garners him a close relationship with Andre Baptiste Sr., a ruthless dictator responsible for much of the conflict in Liberia as well as the use of "child soldiers".

Unable to charge Yuri for his crimes, Valentine reveals to Ava that Yuri is an arms dealer. Ava convinces him to stop dealing. Yuri reveals that it is not the income that has fueled his career, but quotes. "I'm good at it" as a means to explain his continuous spiral into moral convolution. Yuri complies for a short while, but finds it difficult to earn as much through honest wages. He is lured back in when his old client, the dictator of Liberia, Andre Baptiste Sr., promises a very good pay.

Yuri brings Vitaly along to Liberia, claiming he can't trust anyone there. During the transaction, Vitaly sees a group of villagers kill a woman and her child with machetes and tries to convince Yuri to stop. When Yuri refuses, Vitaly takes a grenade and blows up half the gun shipment. He runs to the other truck to destroy the other half, but the soldiers with whom Yuri has been negotiating with shoot Vitaly. Yuri then approaches the mortally wounded Vitaly, only to retrieve the activated grenade and return it to the very soldier who had shot his brother.

Back at home, Valentine follows Ava as she finds Yuri's security container. She and Yuri's parents disown him. Yuri is arrested after a bullet is found in Vitaly's chest as it passes through customs. Valentine, convinced that he can now find evidence to convict him with, tells Yuri that he has found his security container. However, Yuri reveals to Valentine that his superiors at Interpol will not allow him to be convicted, as he has positioned himself as a "necessary evil", someone who is able to distribute weapons when first-world governments do not wish to become directly involved. This proves to be true, and Yuri is released after United States Marine Corps officer Colonel Oliver Southern speaks to Valentine. Despite all personal losses, Yuri returns to his career in weapons trafficking.

A brief postscript notes that, while private arms dealers do conduct a lot of business, the five largest arms exporters – the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China – are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Historical accuracy

Plot details on the illegal arms market, particularly regarding purchases for West Africa in early 1990s, are closely based on real stories and people originating from the former Soviet Union.

• The main protagonist, Yuri Orlov, is loosely based on several people. His name corresponds to the last name of Oleg Orlov, a Russian businessman arrested in Ukraine on suspicion of smuggling missiles to Iran. The real Orlov was strangled in Kiev's Lukyanivska Prison in 2007 during the investigation.. His exploits are widely believed to be based on Victor Bout, a suspected arms dealer notorious for smuggling arms and other merchandise through several aviation front-companies. His background is loosely similar to Semion Mogilevich, a suspected master-mind in Russian organized crime who was born in Ukraine into a Jewish family.
• The character Andre Baptiste, Sr. is partly based on Charles Taylor, the President of Liberia until 2003.
• The character Andre Baptiste Jr. is partly based on Charles' Taylor's son, Charles McArther Emmanuel and Saddam Hussein's son Uday Hussein. The character wields a gold plated AK-47, much like one found in Hussein's private quarters during the US-lead invasion of Iraq.
• The character of Colonel Oliver Southern is evidently hinting of Oliver North, most famous for his involvement in the Iran-Contra Scandal.

The conflicts portrayed in the movie are all real conflicts in real countries. Particularly in Lebanon, Sudan, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

However, the scenes of direct shipping of weapons from Ukraine's army storages are fictional. Portrayal of the Interpol as an acting security agency is also entirely fictional.

Production

A scene in the movie featured 50 tanks, which were provided by a Czech source. The tanks were only available until December of the year of filming. They were to be returned so they could be sold to Libya. The production team bought 3000 real AK-47 assault rifles because they were cheaper than prop guns.

Cast

• Nicolas Cage – Yuri Orlov
• Jared Leto – Vitaly Orlov
• Bridget Moynahan – Ava Fontaine Orlov
• Ethan Hawke – Jack Valentine
• Eamonn Walker – André Baptiste Sr.
• Ian Holm – Simeon Weisz
• Tanit Phoenix – Candy
• Donald Sutherland – Colonel Oliver Southern (voice only)
• Sammi Rotibi – André Baptiste Jr.
• Eugene Lazarev – General Dmitri Orlov
• Kobus Marx – Boris

DVD release

The UK DVD release of Lord of War includes, prior to the film, an advert for Amnesty International, showing the AK-47 being sold on a shopping channel of the style popular on cable networks. The American DVD release includes a bonus feature that shows the various weapons used in the movie, allowing viewers to click on each weapon to get statistics about their physical dimensions and histories. The DVD bonus section also contains a public service announcement from Nicolas Cage, addressing the issue of illicit arms sales.

Reception

Critical

Lord of War received fairly positive reviews from critics. The film received a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it also received a special mention for excellence in film making from the National Board of Review.

Box office

The film grossed $9,390,144 on its opening weekend (2,814 theaters, $3,336 average). After the film's 7-weeks release it grossed a total of $24,149,632 on the domestic market in the US, and $48,467,436 overseas.

See also

• Arms industry
• Arms trafficking
• Blood diamond

Warzones featured

• Sierra Leone Civil War
• Lebanese Civil War
• Somali Civil War
• Civil war in Afghanistan
• Second Liberian Civil War

External links

• Official site
• Lord of War at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Lord of War at AllMovie
• Lord of War at the TCM Movie Database
• Lord of War at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lord of War at Box Office Mojo
• Guns featured in the film