LORD OF WAR
The story of the movie begins with a boy born in Ukraine, Yuri Orlov, after their family migrated to America before the collapse of the Soviet Union. After settling in the United States for a few years, his parents put up an authentic cuisine in Brighton Beach, New York. However, there are only few customers eating in their restaurant. Disappointed with their business, Yuri wants to have a business that could save his family. One day, he witnesses a shoot-out between two rival Russian mobsters. His escapes in this shoot-out led him to the crucial moment of his life, becoming the biggest American gunrunner in the United States. Thus, he says, People are going into the restaurant business because whatever happens they are going to eat. That was the time I realized my fortune rest in satisfying another basic human need. He further reiterates the fact that if there is only one out of every twelve people carrying guns, then he wants to figure out how to arm the other eleven.
Yuri convinces his young brother, Vitaly Orlov (Jean-Pierre Nshanian), to join him in his illegal business of smuggling weapons and ammunition to different countries. This act according to him is a common transnational crime committed by many mafias organization in United States. His brother agrees with his plan and sarcastically commented, It is a hell of a career shift. Their first break comes during the 1982 Lebanon War, when they supply guns like AK-47 and bullet to both sides of parties involved. They find their position under the two parties involved in war, selling to organization suffering under authority and the groups involved in creating chaos to society.
As his business nurtures, Yuri tells of his first confrontation with Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), an Interpol agent who cannot be bribed with money (since he has many government officials bribed with huge amount). He constantly avoids Agent Valentines arrest particularly when he modifies his boats name from Kristol to Kono e. From time to time, Yuri is constantly under threat with agent Jack Valentine.
During his business agreement with a Columbian drug lord, Yuri and his brothers are paid with six kilograms of cocaine instead of money. At first Yuri did not want to get the drugs, but he does not have any option since he was shot in the process of the negotiation. Consequently, after the incident his brother takes one kilogram of cocaine to get high and forget what they experienced. Vitaly then became addicted to drugs and Yuri puts him in the rehabilitation center.
Leaving with no option, he is the one manages to run his own business. After a few years, his business becomes established and he engineers meeting with Ava Fontaine, (Bridget Moynahan), the woman of his dreams, and enhances her on a complicated seduction. He introduces himself as the wealthy owner of an international transport business. As Yuri narrated in the movie, Some of the most flourishing affairs are based on lies and deception. Since they were usually end up anyhow, its a rational place deception at the start. Contrary to his work, Yuri is a family man. He and Ava bear one child named Nicolai (Nalu Tripician) which they nurture properly. Afraid that his son will follow his foot steps (arms dealer), he eradicates all toy guns and shadows of his work from his sons life.
During the Christmas day of 1991, he hears from Mikhail Gorbachev the news of the break-up of Soviet Union. Taking an advantage of the situation, he is lucky enough to get a huge transaction from African region. He directly goes back to Ukraine, knowing that there are vast supplies of weapon in the former Soviet state. He arranges a conspiracy with his uncle Dmitri (Yevgeni Lazarev), one of Ukrainian general, to sell the weapons to these countries. (In between 1982 and 1983, 32 billion worth or weapons were stolen in Ukraine alone. No perpetrator has ever been detained and prosecuted. For most of the researchers, they believe that this is the greatest robbery of weapons of the 20th Century.)
The smuggled weapons he gets from his uncle were mostly sells in a war zone in Africa. He avoided floating embargoes of various weapons in some region to avoid problems in the future. One of his finest customers is an African warlord Andre Baptite Sr. (Eamonn Walker), the self-declared and ruthless dictator President of Liberia.
However, the crimes in West Africa resulting from the incursion of weapons bring greater pressure from the Interpol and other international community. Agent Valentine apprehends Yuri but cannot make the charges because of lack of evidence. One of the subordinates of Agent Valentine suggests killing Yuri. However, Agent Valentine would rather let Yuri walk as a free man if the cost of killing and stopping him is his own humanity.
To stop Yuri from his evil act, Agent Valentine reveals to Ava that he is an arms dealer to different countries. As a result, Ava convinces Yuri to stop his illegal business. For s brief period, Yuri becomes a legitimate businessman. However, he cannot fight the urge of his nature as an arms dealer. Again he continues to his illegal business.
On one of his transaction, he brings Vitaly to Liberia. However, an unexpected event happened during the transaction. Vitaly sees a crowd of villagers kill a woman and her child. He tries to convince Yuri to stop the villagers and help the woman but Yuri refuses. In effect, Vitaly gets a grenade and blows up half of the gun delivery. A few nearby soldiers saw what happened and immediately kill Vitaly. However, instead of blowing all of the shipment for Vitalys death, Yuri goes back to the negotiating table and finished the deal.
Returning home, he was arrested at the airport by Agent Valentine together with his brother body. Thus he said, Ive smuggled millions of rounds of ammunition and the bullet that lands me in prison is found under my lifeless brothers rib. In effect, his parents ostracize and blame him for the death of his brother. His wife abandons him, taking his son. Finally, Agent Valentine convinces him that he can now find evidence to put him in jail since he found a container full of ammunition and weapon in his warehouse matching with the bullet found with his brother body. However, Yuri reiterates that his superior will not allow him to be convicted. They still need him to distribute weapons and ammunition. They need someone to distribute weapons and ammunitions when the first-world countries do not want to be directly involved. True enough, he is released in prison in jail when a United States Marine officer talks to Valentine.
It is very clear that the conspiracy between high government officials, military and other high organized crime organization are present to bring transnational crime into different regions of the world. At the beginning of the film, the nature and variety of the crimes being committed seems unlimited drugs, human trafficking, gun smuggling and others. But no region of the world seems resistant to this threat, especially the United States. According to Finckenauer, America is the land of opening for receiving criminal goods like guns (as seen in the movie) and laundering dirty money. This is for the reason that United States is a democratic country and transnational crime can easily be committed by criminal organizations whose existence has continuity over time. Moreover, the use of organized violence and corruption make their illegal activities possible because of this issue.
Lord of War is a very good movie that shows a transnational organized crime violated by the lead actor Nicolas Cage. As seen in the movie, although it might be a common crime, transnational crime is not presents everywhere. Certain characteristics seem to differentiate the countries troubled by transnational organized crime from those that are not. Some of these characteristics simply show to be in a parallel condition, whereas other are considered being facilitator, and other could actually be eligible as reasons of organized crime. The general level of crime seen in the film is an apparent primary condition for organized crime. For example, High-crime countries are more likely to have transnational organized crime (as seen in the character of Andre Baptite Sr.) than low-crime countries. This is for the reason that common crime and organized crime are related to the degree of industrialization and urbanization of a society.
As mentions by Finckenauer, organized crime will be more likely to succeed in countries with high or advanced levels of economic development. Urbanization, industrialization and economic development facilitate and create demand for good and services. These include goods and services that are illegal (such as drugs) and regulated (guns that are seen in the movie). When both of these goods and services are in short supply, as seen in the movie, there is an abundant supply of unregulated and legal product. Thus, there is no way for this organized crime to become supplier.
However on the opposite condition, organized crimes succeed since they need to fulfill unmet demand of illegal and regulated product. This demand includes drugs, firearms (as seen in the movie), or sex workers, or it maybe service such as determining argument when there is no suitable legal means of doing so.
The movie shows the nature of criminal opportunities (character portrayed by Nicolas Cage) available in a particular place and situation that also influences the existence of an organized crime. Moreover, the extent to which particular criminal opportunities (when Yuri witnessed a shoot-out between Russian Mafias) can be exploited to explain the presence or absence of an organized crime. Some crimes can be done quite easily by criminals acting alone (Yuri) or in an organized manner. The last part is especially true of crimes that are committed across national boundary.
With respect to transnational organized crime, certain, infrastructure and geographical characteristics, including the presence of international airports, presence of seaports, border national locations and other pertinent information in one country that provides special criminal opportunities to occur. More so than common crime, transnational organized crime is fed by the presence of ethnic minorities who provide an organized supply for both victims and the offenders (Yuri both supplies weapons between two parties involved). Moreover, it thrives in environments characterized by high tolerance of deviance, especially where government and law enforcement are weak or corrupt (Yuri supplies weapons and ammunition to countries with weak government such as Liberia).
With respect to profit generated, transnational organized group generates more than legitimate business, which are subject to domestic and host country laws and regulations. Thus, as these transnational organized groups accumulate power and influence, government agencies charged in eradicating them are actually declining in effectiveness and capacity (Yuri despite of hard evidences, is not charged with any crime and at the end continue to supply weapons and ammunition to different countries). In this case, neither the federal nor the regional governments posses the resources to counteract these transnational organized crime. The key word to eradicate this kind of conspiracy is the political will of different government officials. If this problem (transnational crime) is not solving appropriately, organized crime networks will only become powerful in the near future. In effect, super power countries (like the United States) will face serious problem especially in national security.
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