Lord of War

Posted in Mike Wood's blog on ,

A nice review of Lord of War. Directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Nicolas Cage.

Lord of War is a film with a point to make. From the opening credits through to the very final shot this is a bitter, angry, film, but also a very funny one. I enjoyed it immensely.

It’s directed and written by Andrew Niccol, who also directed Gattaca and wrote The Truman Show. It follows a Ukrainian immigrant called Yuri Orlov, played by Nicolas Cage, through his beginnings selling guns to local gangsters to his triumphs avoiding arms embargos in order to supply weapons to brutal dictators. Essentially the film is a farce, as we move from one ridiculous and absurd scenario to the next until we reach a truly outrageous ending. The difference from most farces though is that this is all real. The absurd situations, the ridiculous rationalisations, and the outrageous conclusions are all ones we have made ourselves. This is both funny and horribly serious.

The film’s point is not made with subtlety, it is hammered home in scene after scene. Orlov watches one of his guns being fired at people, and as he watches the film slows down; the sound is turned up and distorted until the gun’s action sounds like a cash register. The point about what he hears when people are shot is made all too clear. In another scene Orlov and one of the murderous warlords he is supplying shoot someone together. Orlov doesn’t want to actually kill anyone himself, so the dictator insists that they both hold the gun, and that they both pull the trigger. Niccol is saying that the arms dealer is complicit in the dictator’s crime, however much revulsion he may feel at killing someone.

Most of the film deals with the various rationalisations of Orlov’s used to blur the boundaries of legal and illegal. It is quite some way through before someone points out that none of that should matter, as the fundamental question is whether what he does is right or wrong. This seems to surprise Orlov, as it is genuinely a question he hasn’t considered for some time by this point in his career. In essence the whole point of the film seems to be to strip away the rationalisations from the process of death and destruction that humanity continuously unleashes upon itself. We need to take a step back and ask ourselves if what we are doing is right or wrong, Niccol is saying. By the time Orlov comes to the ultimate rationalisation, that his actions amount to nothing as all the evil would have happened anyway, it rings very hollow indeed.

A criticism I’ve heard of Lord of War is that it comes across as essentially paternalist. Throughout most of the film the point being pushed seems to be that the developed world should know better than to give guns to African people. Indeed, the “good guy”, an Interpol agent played by Ethan Hawke, denounces Orlov primarily for selling guns to poor African countries. We know what’s best for these unfortunate black guys, seems to be his ideology. The hypocrisy of this is stunningly revealed at the very end of the film, however. In some ways this amounts to a twist ending in the final shots, but it is a twist in the moral message offered, not the actual plot. Also the final shot is undoubtedly the biggest joke in the film, but it’s also true, and therefore not especially funny.

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.