LORD OF WAR
Yesteday night I re-watched this amazing,sadly and lovely Jared's movie. I love so much Vitaly...poor darling!
The scene of sex upon the wall...wahhahah to funny I can't stopped to watch and laugh!! XD
This film charts the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa, selling guns to mobsters in his local neighbourhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 90s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son. The film also charts his relationship through the years with his younger brother, his marriage to a famous model, his relentless pursuit by a determined federal agent and his inner demons that sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto.
PLOT:
Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage), a Ukrainian-American gunrunner, stands in a sea of spent shell casings in an African town. He states that with over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation, there is one firearm for every twelve people on the planet- and ponders how to arm the other eleven. The opening credits follow, set to the Buffalo Springfield song For What It's Worth. The life of a 7.62x39mm round is depicted as it is made in a Soviet Union weapons factory, shipped across the world to an African warzone, loaded into the magazine of an AK-47 and fired into the head of a child soldier.
Through voice-over, Orlov describes the beginnings of his career in the early 1980's. After he sees a Russian mobster kill two would-be assassins in a restaurant, he notices that the restaurant's purpose was to fulfill a necessity for food, so he decides to fulfill a necessity by providing firearms to those willing to pay. He partners up with his ne'er-do-well younger brother, Vitaly (Jared Leto), and forms his own arms business. Yuri makes his first connection, through his oblivious father, with an Israeli gun dealer, who supplies him with his first gun, an Uzi, which he sells to some local Russian mobsters. Yuri's first big break, however, comes during the 1982 Lebanon War, during which he sells guns to all sides of the conflict.
As his business grows, Yuri tells of his first incident with Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), an Interpol agent who is unusually idealistic and refuses bribes of any kind. Just before Valentine and a team of Interpol agents board a freighter of Yuri's, the Kristol, he orders the crew to quickly paint on a new name and hang a different country's flag. Tricked into thinking they have found the Kono instead, the Interpol agents leave after an Interpol intelligence operative on Yuri's payroll calls in a false sighting of the Kristol several miles away.
During a business deal with a Colombian drug lord, Yuri is paid with six kilos of cocaine instead of cash. The drug lord refuses to pay with anything else, and quickly becomes furious when Yuri argues that he deals in arms, not drugs. The drug lord suddenly shoots him with the very gun he just bought from Yuri. Yuri gives in and takes the cocaine as payment, later discovering how useful it is as liquid assets. Vitaly takes one kilo to get high, and quickly becomes addicted.
After several months, Yuri checks Vitaly into a drug rehabilitation center. From that point onward, he conducts his arms business alone. Soon after, he courts model Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan) after forging an elaborate scheme where Yuri lures Ava to a false photo shoot. Later, they marry and have a child named Nikolai (Nicky).
Yuri gets his second big break after the Soviet Union dissolves. Yuri rushes to Ukraine after watching Mikhail Gorbachev's Christmas Day 1991 speech of resignation on television. He begins illegally buying tanks and other weapons from Ukraine's new military, through the help of his uncle, a former Soviet General, to expand his operations.
Yuri expands his weapon sales to conflicts in Africa, most notably in Liberia. His business garners him a close relationship with Andre Baptiste Sr., a ruthless dictator responsible for much of the conflict in Liberia, as well as the use of "child soldiers".
Unable to charge Yuri for his crimes, Valentine reveals to Ava that Yuri is an arms dealer. Ava convinces him to stop dealing. Yuri reveals that it is not the income that has fueled his career, but explains, "I'm good at it". Yuri complies for a short while, but finds it difficult to earn as much through legitimate business. He is lured back in when his old client, Andre Baptiste Sr., in New York City for a United Nations meeting, promises him very good pay.
Yuri brings a sober Vitaly along with him to Liberia, claiming he can't trust anyone there. However, Baptiste reveals that the weapons are intended for the RUF rebels of Sierra Leone. During the transaction, Vitaly sees a group of RUF rebels kill a woman and her child with machetes, and tries to convince Yuri to stop. When Yuri refuses, Vitaly takes a grenade and blows up half the gun shipment, killing Andre Baptiste Jr. in the process. He runs to the other truck to destroy the other half, but the soldiers with whom Yuri has been negotiating with shoot Vitaly. Yuri then approaches the mortally wounded Vitaly, only to retrieve the activated grenade and return it to the very soldier who had shot his brother.
Back at home, Valentine follows Ava as she finds Yuri's secret shipping container, in which he keeps all his gun-running supplies. She leaves him with their child and Yuri's parents disown him after learning the truth. Yuri is arrested after a bullet is found in Vitaly's chest as it passes through U.S. Customs. Valentine, convinced that he can now find evidence to convict him with, tells Yuri that he has found his shipping container. However, Yuri reveals to Valentine that his superiors at Interpol will not allow him to be convicted, as he has positioned himself as a "necessary evil," someone who is able to distribute weapons when first-world governments can not be seen to be directly involved. This proves to be true, and Yuri is released after United States Army officer Colonel Southern speaks to Valentine and orders him to forget about Yuri. Despite all personal losses, Yuri returns to his career in weapons trafficking, acknowledging that the same governments that have shielded him from prosecution may eventually turn him into a scapegoat. He seems not to care, content with returning to "Doing what I do best."
A brief postscript notes that, while private arms dealers do conduct much business, the five largest arms exporters are the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, which are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Just perfect!!! ♥
₪ ø lll ·o.