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Lord of War

by Jacob Murphy on September 19th, 2005

The movie Lord of War has hit cinemas, and it’s doing very well. I am glad. I have seen this film, and I imagine that I will remember it for a very long time.

The story is fairly good, the acting is passable/good, the action is minimal really. What makes this a memorable piece of work is the effect it has on the viewer. To describe it in two words, it’s subtly disturbing.

I have never seen a better example of an anti-hero. A protagonist who does bad bad things. My first real example in my viewing life was Natural Born Killers. But they were boldy portrayed evil anti-heroes. In Lord of War the hero Yuri Orlav, played by Nicolas Cage, is calm, nice enough, and is acted in an almost sedate fashion.

He supplies guns to very bad, very dangerous people, all while turning a fair profit for himself. And the viewer desires for him to succeed. When an Interpol agent sets his sights on bringing Orlav down, he is the villain, and you hate him for it.

This exposes the audience’s completely upside down view of their own ethical morality. They watch people, even children, fire guns and are almost glad that they are. Of course I am exagerating a little bit, but when Yuri gives his hopelessly addicted brother some cocaine, you almost want to cheer his philanthropy.

Lord of War is eye opening, but not in the way one would expect. I recommend it highly.

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