October 05, 2005

HORSEFEATHERS GOES TO THE MOVIES: LORD OF WAR

The new movie, “Lord of War” is “Major Barabara meets “Leviathan.” Anyone with a deep respect for human nature and a yen for an intelligent movie, for a change, will enjoy Lord of War. It is a dark satire written and directed by Andrew Niccol, a native New Zealander of all things, about a young man who grows up in Brooklyn’s “Little Odessa,” surrounded by Russian gangsters and finds his road to the American Dream by becoming an arms dealer. Becoming increasingly successful, he ends up selling to anyone who is interested in buying guns, tanks, helicopters, grenades, whether they are good guys or bad.

Our hero, Yuri Orlov, played by Nicholas Cage, is not exactly a hero, but not exactly a villain either. He is in fact both devil’s advocate and choric figure, much like that great character in “Major Barbara,” the international arms dealer Sir Andrew Undershaft.

The film is a political satire and darkly comic when showing, in fascinating depth, the international arms market, an industry never shown in film in such detail before. It is one of those rare films that is all about morality but is not preachy or appears to take sides, so the viewer is left with space enough to come to his own unique moral resolution, but not without thinking about the matter long after the closing credits are gone from the screen.

The screenplay is clever, even witty at times, in the use of music, visual effects and even sound effects—for example in one sequence every time a shot is fired you hear a cash register ring. And Cage’s acting and narration is extra-dry, even brut—perfect for the astringent tone of the film. Despite the forces of good arrayed against him—his wife, his brother, the good guy Interpol policeman played by Ethan Hawke—only Yuri understands, intuitively, the truth of his position in the universe. Like Undershaft he is a “necessary evil.” And like Undershaft in “Major Barbara” and Satan in “Paradise Lost,” Yuri has all the best lines.

You must not come late to the film lest you miss a brilliant tour de force during the opening credits. In fact Lord of War is one of the smartest screenplays of the year. Andrew Niccol, the author, is the writer of such thought-provoking films as “Gattaca,” “The Truman Show,” and “S1m0ne,” in “Lord of War” he shows his wit and satirical gifts as well.

Of course, as one might expect, the movie was not well received by members of the liberal press. A case in point is the review in the New York Times of September 16, 2005 written by the Times’ arrogant, intellectually challenged second-string reviewer, Manohla Dargis. “The screenwriter for ‘Lord of War,’ Andrew Niccol, lavishes a great deal of time and many words building a case against guns; unfortunately, the film's director, who also happens to be Mr. Niccol, enjoys playing with toy guns. His words may say no, but his overworked, overslick visual style says lock and load, baby.
“…it can be hard to hear the message (if there even is one), especially when that message carries a familiar, been-there, done-that…moralism. Like: guns are bad, corporations are soulless, and some first world governments traffic in third world misery. To which any reasonably informed viewer might be expected to wonder, and your point is what, exactly?

“Mr. Niccol's point here, it appears, is both to entertain and to instruct with the story of Yuri, a Russian émigré who rises from humble Brooklyn to become a globe-trotting gunrunner with all the moral reasoning of a flea….”

It is difficult for Ms. Dargis to see the point because she knows but one morality, has a tin ear for irony and a stunted sense of humor. Her moral sensibilities are easily overpowered when she encounters ideas like the Hobbesian notion that given human nature, war is a universal aspect of life.

In any case, if you're looking for an entertaining, intelligent action movie that will give you something to think and talk about afterward—this is the one.