Sept. 23, 2004 - On the level of entertainment, “Lord of War” succeeds as a genre action film. It fits comfortably, as one blogger put it, in the “autobiographical scumbag” slot pioneered by such classics as "The Godfather" series. The protagonist, Nicolas Cage playing international arms dealer Yuri Orlov, walks into a moral swamp, simply by putting one foot in front of another in pursuit of the vast wealth to be piled up by delivering cheap, Soviet-era weapons to corrupt African warlords. But this is no mere potboiler. Hollywood just scooped the press on one of the best stories in Africa.
Here the truth truly is stranger than fiction. Just run the name “Victor Bout” on Google. More than 21,000 hits pop up. One of the first items up: A PBS report from "Frontline/World" describing Bout (pronounced “butt" in Russian) as the “poster boy for a new generation of post Cold War international arms dealers.” The report notes that Bout has been accused of arming the Taliban when it still ruled Afghanistan. The Global Policy Forum, which monitors policymaking at the United Nations, features Bout in its "Rogues’ Gallery," describing him as having “fueled dozens of the world’s most murderous conflicts by shipping arms clandestinely to rebel groups” in countries ranging from Pakistan to Angola, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. And those are just some of the charges.
Now guess from whom “Lord” director Andrew Niccol rented the Antonov-12 cargo aircraft he used to film a fictional African arms delivery? You guessed it. And how about the couple of thousand of AK-47s the extras used during filming in South Africa and Namibia? Niccol simply bought the machine guns on the international arms market, and then sold them back at a small loss after the film wrapped. It was much cheaper and easier than buying dummy props.
The elusive Bout—who has denied the allegations against him—represents only the best-known member of this species. Throughout the badlands of Africa and other impoverished corners of the planet, money that comes out of the ground—in the form of gold, diamonds, oil or other minerals—goes to arm factions that create states within states. Some blame globalization for breaking down traditional authority structures, leaving young men of war age to find other role models. But it’s hard to imagine that the death toll would have been so high if the militiamen had to rely on machetes and hoes instead of automatic weapons. In eastern Congo alone, more than 3 million people are said to have died of war-related injuries or illnesses since the 1994 Rwanda genocide set off a power struggle for this mineral-rich region.
All of which helps explain why Amnesty International has taken such a keen interest in “Lord of War.” The human-rights group this month announced its official support for the film, which went into theaters this week. Amnesty is hardly the usual bedfellow for a Hollywood release. However, with its potentially huge audience, a film such as “Lord of War” can reach more thinking people than the many U.N. studies and press reports already devoted to the topic. Somehow, the arms dealers have never made it onto a radar already crowded with other problems—AIDS, famine, poverty—the list is long. And in order to do the story properly, a reporter would have actually to gain access to an arms transfer. It’s never easy to get on the inside of a criminal enterprise. But realistic cinema can put you there. Hence Amnesty’s abject plea: “See the film, join Amnesty International, and act to save lives.” Amnesty is campaigning for an international convention on small-arms sales. It also wants Washington to help foreign governments better secure their arms stockpiles.
In a free-market world, all that may be pie in the sky. Africa boasts plenty of real estate, limited air-traffic control and pliable officials. Putting a stop to the plague of small arms anytime soon may prove daunting. But a public-awareness campaign wrapped in a major motion picture represents a major step forward.
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