You know, I suspect I might be an easily awed person. Either that, or I am extremely good at selecting books, comics, TV shows, movies and what have you, which awes me. Because just in the last month or so, I’ve been moonstruck by some cultural product so often, that I should have become a vegetable.

Most recent of these awe-inspiring pieces of art, is the movie “Lord of War“.

It tells the tale of the arms dealer Yuri Orlov (whose name, by the way, made me think of Red Alert 2), how he decides to go into the business, how he brings his brother with him, rises quickly in the trade, marries a model, is hunted by the INTERPOL, meets with African despots, and makes money. All the while, it conveys a story which affected me on at least two levels. First, you have the macro level, on which the political infomercial part of the tale was played out — elegantly putting some smartarse’s theory (I can’t seem to remember whose it was) about using individual fates to help sink a message on a collective level, rather than just reciting statistics. Then, and this is where the true strength of the movie lay, I thought, there’s the micro level — the level of individuals. Here, Andrew Niccol presented us with a plethora of interesting characters, from the cynical, intelligent and talented Yuri Orlov; via his drugged up brother, tormented by a conscience; and Yuri’s wife, who for a long time turns a blind eye to her husband’s activities; the dedicated INTERPOL agent, Jack Valentino, a desperate idealist who does what he can to help the suffering hordes of the world, and to reduce his own feeling of impotent Weltschmertz; to the half-mad, macho and brutal Liberian despot. I, for one, gained sympathy for all these characters; I felt with them, I cringed in my seat when their interests clashed, and then cringed some more when I realised I wanted the “bad guy” to win. This is Art — making us examine ourselves through uncomfortable situations which forces us to see the less flattering sides of ourselves. (Okay, I might have said the same thing twice here, but you get the picture, right?)

So, all in all this might just be one of the best movies I’ve seen. It’s everything I thought “Scarface” lacked, and then some. 9.5/10.