Wednesday, January 18, 2006

sorry for the spoilers

I watched Lord of War last night. It was an amazing flick. Captivating and horrifying. Nicholas Cage achieves what is probably his best performance. But the very interesting character in the movie is his brother. The one who is conflicted. He goes into the arms business with his brother and struggles the entire time. He struggles with himself, with what they're doing, providing the resources for men, women and children to continue killing each other. Cage has every justification for every argument, most of which are shown to be empty lies by the reality that he lives. But all he wants is to survive, and the best way to survive, he claims, is to never go to war, especially with yourself. The younger brother was at war with himself his whole life, always fearful of the dog within him, the base instinct for violence and hate. Cage doesn't fight it. He lives his life for his arms dealing destiny, and he ends up losing everything that he loves. His brother dies. His family disowns him and his wife and son leave him. His brother dies in the process of fighting what I can only call "the good fight," albeit a bit twisted and messed up.

I say this movie is horrifying, for it is so on many levels. It is a horrifying display of both human failure and the global tolerance for violence and injustice. That a man could decide that the fight against human nature isn't worth fighting and that there is no hope of prevailing against the evil in this world is gutwrenching and intolerable. The movie plays on the adage that says that evil prevails when good men do nothing, and the conclusion of the so-called "Lord of War" is that evil prevails... period. My brother and I wish to travel to Africa and bless the people there. Much of the arms dealing in this movie takes place in Africa, the most war-torn, disease-ridden continent on earth. I want to go there and tell them that there is hope. That evil does not have to prevail. That good can actually overcome the terrors of this world. I want to bless them and honor them and help them find the peace of God.

I would recommend the movie, "Lord of War", to any adult. We need to be shocked. We need to be horrified. We need to know that there are people who believe that evil will always prevail and the only recourse in life is to merely survive and get what you can before you're done.

3 comments:

onetenchelsea said...

there've been a lot of good movies on Africa this year. The Interpreter, Hotel Rwanda and The Constant Gardener were all really good.

Jake said...

yes, I've seen the first two, and I keep intending to get the Constant Gardener, only Blockbuster is always out. Go figure.

onetenchelsea said...

there is an old French movie called Lumumba that's good as well