The real-world Ukraine that is currently occupying center stage between the U.S. and Russian weapons industries is also a pivotal site in the 2005 fictional movie Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage.

The film shows the cynical reality of the perpetual profits to be made from selling arms and dealing with both sides of any war going on in the world, with government leaders and institutions keeping arms dealers and middlemen on their payroll and under legal protection.

Yuri Orlov, the film’s main character, knows he is shielded and explains: “Without operations like mine, it would be impossible for certain countries to conduct a respectable war.”

The film is at least in part based on the ex-KGB arms trafficker Viktor A. Bout, who worked as a subcontractor for the U.S. Army in Iraq and made transport deals with the British during the war in Kosovo. Both Bout and Dick Cheney’s Halliburton have since conveniently relocated their headquarters to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the sinister reality of the film’s subject, the production is relaxed, educational, and at times amusing—particularly through its clever selection of music throughout the narration—and shows ever so clearly how ridiculous the arms race and media “coverage” of international conflicts have become.

The five largest arms-producing nations in the world just so happen to also be the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Related:

“Lord of War” on Wikipedia

View “Lord of War” on vudu.com