Jett D.

Labilles

4POL1

Lord of War I. Summary Nicolas Cage portrayed Yuri Orlov, who is an arm dealer who was born from Ukraine and eventually migrated to United States of America and together with his family, they ran a restaurant. He was inspired to have an arms business when a group of men tried to kill a Russian hoodlum who eventually turned out killing the group of men. He partnered himself with his brother Vitaly, who at first was hesitant but joined eventually, and together they started their business. During the Lebanon War, he sold weapons for both sides profiting him a lot of money. Yuri also was trying to avoid an Interpol agent named Jack Valentine which Yuri encountered during a ship inspection. Yuri slyly deceived Valentine during the investigation. In their business operation with a drug lord, they were paid by sacks of cocaine instead of money and Yuri was shot. The brothers accepted the payment and this cause Vitalys addiction to drugs. Because of Vitalys addiction, Yuri has no choice but to put his brother in a rehabilitation center, thus he managed his business alone. During the course of the film, he met his dream girl named Ava Fonataine whom he arranged a photo shoot. After some time together, they married and Ava conceived a child that they named Nikolai. His business grew after the fall of the Soviet Union. After that, he sold his items in Africa where he met a military dictator and established a friendship. Valentine told Ava about her husbands illegal schemes. Ava managed to convince his husband to stop his illegal business and Yuri tried to comply. After some time, his military dictator friend named Andre Baptiste Sr. tempted him to sell him weapons in exchange of a good payment. He recruited his bother again to assist him to Liberia, where the weapons are intended for the RUF in Sierra Leone. During their negotiation, Vitaly saw a RUF rebel killed a mother and her child. Shocked and distressed on how their business indirectly kills innocent people, he confronted Yuri to call off the deal. Yuri didnt want to call off the deal. Because of this, Vitaly took grenades and threw it to one of the truck that contains the weapons. When he was about to destroy the other truck of weapons, he was shot by a RUF rebel. Afterwards, Ava knew already that Yuri was still doing illegal business and his parents already disowned him. Yuri was also imprisoned by Valentine. He managed to tell Valentine that eventually he will be released because of some pragmatic reasons Yuri gave the agent. Yuri was indeed released and despite of these unfortunate events happened to him, Yuri still returned to the business he is good at arms trafficking. II. Reflection The film showed how in reality the countries work; how they obtain their weapons, how the rebel groups fund their civil wars, and how crimes and illegal schemes pass through the countries government. It is also portrayed that because of these arms dealers, Africas internal disputes like the RUF rebels were so blatant in the continent. Another problem with the development in the said continent is that, even the richer countries around the world are

exploiting African resources and the citizens as well. They often finance the war by selling the terrorists weapons. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. During the film, Andre Baptiste Sr. was seen paying Yuri diamonds. This is evident in the modern day because these blood diamonds are used by these rebel groups to finance their war. Violence is prevalent in Africa which showed how RUF indiscriminately killed a mother and her child. This actually violated the human rights of the African people. At the end of the film, a note was shown that the five major exporters of these weapons are ironically the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council which are the following: the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China. Arm dealers have this realistic point of view that there are always wars and conflict so they are present to provide for the necessity for weapons. Wars will aggravate if these arm dealers would continue on their illegal endeavors. Development is an instrument. Africa should be liberated from all these atrocities that are occurring in their land. They should be given a chance to show the world that they can stand from their defeat and establish justice, peace, and order in their land.

Jett D. Labilles

4POL1

Lord of War I. Summary Nicolas Cage portrayed Yuri Orlov, who is an arm dealer who was born from Ukraine and eventually migrated to United States of America and together with his family, they ran a restaurant. He was inspired to have an arms business when a group of men tried to kill a Russian hoodlum who eventually turned out killing the group of men. He partnered himself with his brother Vitaly, who at first was hesitant but joined eventually, and together they started their business. During the Lebanon War, he sold weapons for both sides profiting him a lot of money. Yuri also was trying to avoid an Interpol agent named Jack Valentine which Yuri encountered during a ship inspection. Yuri slyly deceived Valentine during the investigation. In their business operation with a drug lord, they were paid by sacks of cocaine instead of money and Yuri was shot. The brothers accepted the payment and this cause Vitalys addiction to drugs. Because of Vitalys addiction, Yuri has no choice but to put his brother in a rehabilitation center, thus he managed his business alone. During the course of the film, he met his dream girl named Ava Fonataine whom he arranged a photo shoot. After some time together, they married and Ava conceived a child that they named Nikolai. His business grew after the fall of the Soviet Union. After that, he sold his items in Africa where he met a military dictator and established a friendship. Valentine told Ava about her husbands illegal schemes. Ava managed to convince his husband to stop his illegal business and Yuri tried to comply. After some time, his military dictator friend named Andre Baptiste Sr. tempted him to sell him weapons in exchange of a good payment. He recruited his bother again to assist him to Liberia, where the weapons are intended for the RUF in Sierra Leone. During their negotiation, Vitaly saw a RUF rebel killed a mother and her child. Shocked and distressed on how their business indirectly kills innocent people, he confronted Yuri to call off the deal. Yuri didnt want to call off the deal. Because of this, Vitaly took grenades and threw it to one of the truck that contains the weapons. When he was about to destroy the other truck of weapons, he was shot by a RUF rebel. Afterwards, Ava knew already that Yuri was still doing illegal business and his parents already disowned him. Yuri was also imprisoned by Valentine. He managed to tell Valentine that eventually he will be released because of some pragmatic reasons Yuri gave the agent. Yuri was indeed released and despite of these unfortunate events happened to him, Yuri still returned to the business he is good at arms trafficking. II. Reflection The film showed historical events like the fall of the Soviet Union which marked the fall of Communism in Russia and gave rise to democracy. This film also portrays that democracy is not still popular in Africa. Human rights violation, dictatorship etc. were present in Africa during those times. The armed rebels use the diamonds that are abundant in

Africa to finance the civil war. The RUF got hold of the country since the leaders son can shoot his gun whenever he wants. It also shown that democratic election was not present since the military government that were taking place in Africa at that time was a form of dictatorship. People are scared because RUF might raid their town and kill them. The citizens are in grave danger and cannot voice out their contentions against the reign of their dictator. Because of too much democracy, Yuri also abused the freedom that he had by smuggling weapons and helped in financing wars. Even this democratic setup can be bent because he was released from prison because he termed himself as a necessary evil because he has the power to distribute these weapons. The impact made by the fall of the Soviet Union paved way to the increased number of democracy emerging from different countries. The downside of this is that democracy cannot be imported from one country to another. A country can adopt a form of government by first considering their culture, history, and epistemology. These factors are the basic foundations of the political structure of a country. With a strong foundation, it can produce a strong country, with strong legislature, and many aspects will follow such as economy, strengthening of the society, etc.