lord of war

le seigneur de guerre. BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS .. nicholas cage plays yuri the arms dealer, his wife ava fontaine played by bridgette moynahan, and jared leto plays vitaly the brother. and finally the government agent played by ethan hawke.

it is about an arms dealer living off the transgressions / wars between countries, dictators and the people he oppresses, and regular folks who have reason to buy a gun and use it. exploitation, corruption, oppression are explicitly shown in the film. almost everyone is corruptible. it is an ethical question. are arms dealers responsible? when they dont actually kill people. they just sell the means that people kill themselves or defend themselves. but is it not the same as selling drugs, alcohol, and to a largely remote degree fastfood?

i like the relationship between yuri and vitaly. where the brothers show solid confidence and loyalty, honesty to each other. it protays that yuri despite his business dealings of selling arms is still a human being. with the same desires and needs as any.

it touches briefly on the issue of arms in the states. where citizens have the right to bear arms. so that it might appear to be an anti-gun campaign film. but more importantly, it urges us to examine what kind of society we will be if citizens are allowed to have weapons. the arms dealer leads a rather complicated life. a double / triple / quadruple life. the story builds up into a judgement against him but overturns right at the end where he is eventually caught and gives out his biggest defense. i wont say here what hehehe.

rating 5 out of 5 *****
"evil prevails .."