Film Review: Lord of War

Nicholas Cage does a dynamic job portraying Yuri Orlov, a lowly Brooklynite turned international arms trafficker in the thriller Lord of War. The timeline of the film starts as Orlov sells weaspons during the waning cold war years to Soviet strongmen, than he switches over to getting warlords and child soldiers as customers in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Eamonn Walker does an excellent job playing the sociopath Liberian president, Andre Baptiste Sr. Orlav makes it clear from the beginning of the film that he is a businessman. He doesn't care who gets guns; it matters more that they are using his products. "There are enough guns for one out of every twelve people in the world," said Orlov. "It is my job to get guns to the other eleven." Even when he is asked if guns are more dangerous than cigerettes, he states that at least guns have safety pins. Throughout the film Orlov has his family telling him that what he is doing is wrong. It is interesting to see if Orlov ever has a change of heart. Despite the fact that there are arms traffickers all over the world, it is hard to be mad at Orlov because many governements, such as China, Russia, France, UK and US allow these people to carry on their work. Coincidentally all the above countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council. This is a fascinating film for anyone interested films with socially redeeming value.