Lord of War Review

by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)
September 16th, 2005

Lord of War

reviewed by Sam Osborn
-www.samseescinema.com

rating: 4 out of 4

Director: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke, Ian Holm Screenplay: Andrew Niccol
MPAA Classification: R (strong violence, drug use, language and sexuality)

Lord of War is my favorite sort of film. It's a biopic whose lead character is a figure whose life is an unlikely candidate for film adaptation. Its narration, similar to Fight Club's, is slow, methodic, and darkly entertaining. Its screenplay pushes buttons meticulously, to project a tone that takes the side of a neutral onlooker telling the facts as they are, however cold and disturbing they can be. And the facts do get disturbing. What starts out as a calmly told dark comedy of a small arms runner eventually evolves into a true-to-facts political eye-opener that'll make even the most patriotic squirm.

I actually received my pre-screening pass from a connection I have with Amnesty International. My initial thought was, "Oh no." Oftentimes, films endorsed by admittedly left-side political organizations are shown to "teach a lesson." Lessons are fine, as long as the story comes first, which they usually don't in Amnesty-endorsed films. But alas, my faith in Amnesty's choice of cinema has been rekindled; Lord of War is a masterpiece (of sorts). Actually, throughout most of the film I'd thought some higher-up at Amnesty had blown a casket. Because, at first, Lord of War seems to favor its arms runner. But as the film continues, we begin to see that the film isn't looking to take a stance on the morals of an arms runner and doesn't favor nor condemn his work. Director/writer Andrew Niccol only strives to show Yuri Orlov as a human at work. The message of the film is mostly left to the viewer to find, although the ending sort of guides our opinion.
The film opens with Yuri Orlov day dreaming over his dream girl, Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan), the girl from his town, Little Odessa, that went on to become an international supermodel. Snapping back to reality, Yuri begins his running narration, giving us a tour of his city and his life before gun-running. His family, immigrants from Ukraine, own a small restaurant, with Yuri's brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), working as the chef. Unsatisfied with his life, Yuri realizes that the only money in his town is with the gangs. And with so many bullets being expelled by these gangs, maybe Yuri can find his way into the supply business that's so highly demanded in Little Odessa. And so begins Yuri Orlov's legacy. His rise sort of reminded me of Tony Montana's from Scarface, rising through Miami as a cocaine dealer. That's no spoiler, by the way, because Orlov doesn't necessarily meet the same fate Montana did (or maybe he does...). We continue to follow Yuri through his first gun sale on to his supply of entire civil wars in the nation of Liberia (ironically, a country named after freedom). On his tail throughout is Detective Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke) with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, an overzealous agent, as Yuri likes to call him. Yuri was able to buy out almost every other agent who managed to get close to him, but bribes never fit Valentine's bill, making him a constant thorn in Yuri's behind.

Nicholas Cage gives Yuri a humdrum, matter-of-fact manner that works for the moral dilemmas his character has to face. Andrew Niccol does well in making a stereotypically evil figure into a human character, able to make us laugh and relate to him in unusual ways. Yuri does the job simply because he's good at it. If he weren't there, someone else would be. The wars he supplies aren't his business. All that's his business are firearms. Do we believe this? Do we agree with him? These are sensitive questions that you'll probably ask yourself when watching Lord of War.

Don't get me wrong though, Lord of War is a film with much more in store for its audience than moral dilemma. The film is also an enthralling dark comedy. There's adventure and drama weaved along with it, but comedy is what really drives this film. However, there's nothing broad about Lord of War's humor. It's the sort of humor that made Fight Club so great. It's dark, wry humor that doesn't necessarily make you bust a gut laughing, but builds into something between chuckling and grimacing.

As we'd expect from any story about gun-runners, Lord of War takes us to the most desolate areas of the world. Niccol gives us an outsider's view of these worlds, a perspective similar to Yuri's. Niccol doesn't ignore the poverty outside of Yuri's story, but smartly places it in the background for us to brood upon. And as the film's moral stance shifts as the film rolls along, the background begins to take its effect. This method works in that we're aware of the world behind Yuri, but don't let our emotions surrounding it surface until the end, where a pivotal scene sparks some very disturbing emotions.

I'm finding myself liking Lord or War more and more as the days pass on after the screening. Even after its dark comedy and drama wear off, I'm left with some interesting questions to mull over. It's a film that makes us question our political stance, whatever side it may lie on. But Lord of War, again, doesn't take a side. It simply tells its story about the infamous gun-runner Yuri Orlov, and does so with genuine audacity.

-www.samseescinema.com

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