Hacker Cinema
Lord of War
2005 · Film · 122 min
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer and, through some of the deadliest war zones, he struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals and even some of his customers who include many of the world's most notorious dictators. Finally, he must also face his own conscience.
15 positive1 negative1 mixed13 neutralfrom 30 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
34 comments on Hacker News
GPT Image 1.5 is the first model that gets close to replicating the intricate detail mosaic of bullets in the "Lord of War" movie poster for me. Following the prompt instructions more closely also seems better compared to Nano Banana Pro.
I edited the original "Lord of War" poster with a reference image of Jensen and replaced bullets with GPU dies, silicon wafers and electronic components.
https://x.com/singhkays/status/2001080165435113791
Looking for the Nicolas Cage movie "Lord of War" on Google, around the time the game "God of War" came out: "Did you mean 'God of War'? Here are search results for this video game"...
Lord of War is a bit tricky on that front. It seems to glorify the whole mess of international semi-licit arms trading and the people who do it (Cage's character), but under that what it really demonstrates is a man falling ever deeper into sad loneliness in between mostly hollow successes straddling a moral abyss. He resigns himself, almost through inertia, to continuing his business simply because by the end, he really has nothing else and knows how to do nothing else, trapped in a life now devoid of deeper warmth or meaning.
The movie is bleakly depressing under its mockingly glorified surface shine.
Lord of War. Everything in that movie is hyper glorified... And yet if you come away from it feeling that it glorified anything about the reality of what it portrayed, then you may need some lessons in media literacy.
I think they are referencing the Nicolas Cage movie, Lord of War.
Back in my law school days I was part of our school’s Immigration and Human Rights Clinic that won a $22M judgment under the Alien Tort Statute Act on behalf of Liberian torture victims against “Chuckie” Taylor, son of Liberian President Charles Taylor.[1]
The background is the stuff of movies, Charles Taylor was a high ranking official in Liberia that fled to the US after being accused of embezzlement (principally from US contracts), he was arrested in the US and “escaped” from Federal prison, fled back to Africa where he was armed and funded by Gaddafi, and became President of Liberia after a coup. His campaign slogan was "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him.”
In fact both Charles and Chuckie are depicted in the Movie Lord of War, where Chuckie was the one who asks Nicolas Cage for the Rambo’s golden gun. Their brutality was also depicted in Blood Diamond, in neighboring Sierra Leon where they were behind Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and would cut people’s arms off (long sleeve/short sleeves for above/below the elbow) when they voted in elections, because voters hands/thumbs were inked as evidence of voting.
Chuckie interestingly was actually a born in the US and a private school kid. Then went to Liberia after Charles became President and became head of his anti-terrorists unit called the “demon forces”, the rest is the stuff of nightmares they leave out of the movies.
If you can read between the lines, this stuff goes to the highest levels of government and intelligence which is another reason the ATS Act is under attack.
[1] https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2010/02/fiu-immigration-law-clinic-wins-millions-on-behalf-of-liberian-torture-victims-.html#google_vignette
> Are China really going to ban the Chinese version just because the other one exists?
They sometimes edit themselves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_China#List_of_edited_films
My favorite are the ones where they make sure there's a "happy ending" where the authorities win, often with a title card like the Simpsons's "Note: Poochie died on the way back to his home planet" joke.
> In 2022, Fight Club was released in China with an altered ending: a text screen explaining that the authorities triumphed after figuring out Project Mayhem's plan, and that Tyler Durden was committed to a psychiactric institution. This prompted backlash and the film's original ending was subsequently restored.
> The Chinese release of Lord of War cuts the final 30 minutes from the film and replaces it with a text screen summary stating that Yuri Orlov confessed to all crimes and was sentenced to life in prison.
Why permit two versions when you can flex your muscles and force everyone to see the version you want, though?
He is the subject of the Lord of War movie by Andrew Niccol, who made Truman Show (gaslighting), Gattaca (eugenics), In Time (immortality), Good Kill (drone pilots) and Anon (privacy/hacking).
This made me look up what Andrew Niccol has been up to since. He had a terrific start to his career, writing and directing Gattaca and also writing The Truman Show.
But since then he seems to have fallen into a slump, directing just a handful of poorly reviewed movies in the span of 26 years. (The exception is Lord of War, which, while not a masterpiece, was quite enjoyable at the time, and has one of the most memorable opening sequences of any movie.)
This also made me think about what people like him do in the time in between. How are they earning a living? Some directors and screenwriters have gaps lasting 5-10 years between each movie they make. Much of the time must be spent trying to get projects off the ground, but who's footing the bill?
Your ideal film is the opening of the film Lord of War (edited for time).
https://youtu.be/VHn1zogeyO4
Lord of War is such a great movie. Just the perfect level of cynicism and story telling.
Not sure you replied to the right person I never called the ICC a “foreign court.”
However, whether or not US judges are, or may be, appointed to the ICC or any other tribunal, US judges don’t make them domestic courts nor would they apply domestic law.
From the time of the Nuremberg Trials these kinds of courts are commonly called international tribunals in English, the ICC is just a proper name of one such international tribunal. Another includes the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which was not a domestic court.
Arguably the first hybrid international tribunal/domestic court was the Special Court for Sierra Leon where both international law and domestic laws were applied. If Liberia ever successfully gets a war crimes it is likely to be a similar hybrid international tribunal/domestic court approach. Coincidentally I was part of a law clinic that represented a number of Liberian refugees and torture victims and obtained a $22M judgment against the son of the Liberian ex-President Charles Taylor in the US under the Foreign Tort Claims Act. If you’ve ever seen the movie Lord of War, the son is the character in this clip [2] with the golden AK-47 though the names were changed to Baptiste it’s otherwise pretty accurate, down to the fact Charles “Chucky” Taylor Jr. was a private school kid in Florida with a normal life until he went to Liberia and become the head of his Father’s security force ironically called Anti-terrorism Unit.
[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=go9kV4nxsfk
> people like people
Yes, and it's so profitable that someone will inevitably try to use AI-animated "people" to harvest market demand for organic people. Similar to cloning popular software or movies with lower-rent talent. Andrew Niccol, creator of Truman Show, Lord of War, Gattaca and Lord of War, made a film called Simone about a computer-generated fashion/celebrity avatar. Some of the dynamics in that film have already been seen on social media and will likely expand in future metaverses.
Let's compromise and say it's like an article about Eddie Gallagher. Blahyi is a particularly sensationalistic and appalling character who gained infamy in the West thanks to one of VICE News' earliest documentaries. An interesting story, yes, but also tabloidized by VICE's characteristic edginess, and not really a major leader in the Liberian Civil War.
Most Americans don't know much about Africa, let alone Liberia. Our perceptions about it are often only informed by Nicolas Cage's Lord of War and the aforementioned VICE documentary, the latter which has led General Butt Naked to become somewhat of a meme. Yet Liberia is a country that the U.S. specifically was involved in its founding and development. It's rather unfair to the country to have one of its worst villains from one of its most traumatic eras be Americans' only impression of it. An unrepresentative association that dishonors a nation.
2005's Lord of War, staring Nick Cage and Jared Leto, has a great quote similar to this. I'll bungle it, because I can't find the exact line but it goes like:
"Yuri, every single person has a bullet waiting for them; trying to find them. The trick to life, Yuri? Before that bullet finds you, find a way to die."
The opening sequence to that film is also superb film-making. A set-up, a mid point, and a twist ending, all in three minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUEiKs2UAo&feature=emb_title
Lord of War is a pretty decent movie.
Found the point of confusion. “Lord of war” returns the movie. “ Lord of War director's commentary” returns the game.
I have another "Google is shit now" anecdote: a few months ago I wanted to look up some trivia for the movie "Lord of War". I entered this term in Google, and since there was a game that was just released, it responded with "Showing you results for 'God of War'". No results on the front page had anything related to the Nic Cage movie.
Reminds me of that scene from the movie "Lord of War" where they re-paint quickly over the original name of the ship and put a new flag on the ship in 10 minutes.
"The only problem with an honest buck is they're so hard to make - the margins are too low, too many people are doin' it." -- Yuri Orlov , 'Lord of war' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295/quotes/qt04033055
There will always be unethical people willing to exploit the commons for their own profit. Some will do so spectacularly, as a society it's our job to ensure that the EROI of such actions are < 1x so that they will lose out in the long run. Elizabeth Holmes was thoroughly unethical and will spend the next decade paying for that choice, I doubt she profited from it.
if anyone hasn't seen the movie "lord of war" with nic cage, i highly recommend it. it deals with these kinds of issues.
"While private gunrunners continue to thrive, the world's biggest arms suppliers are the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, and China. They are also the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council."
Yuro Orlov: "I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of those men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss, the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year, sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So, you call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil."
Lord of War. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295
Love it. Is this from Lord of War? That is my all time favorite movie.
Andrew Niccol's other thought-provoking films include Truman Show (reality and free will), Lord of War (arms trading), In Time (immortality and currency) and Good Kill (drones), http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Niccol
That reminds me of the movie Lord of War, in which you can't help but root for Nicolas Cage and against Ethan Hawke.
I think this was well explained in the intro to Lord of War. An amazing movie that asks interesting questions about success as a motivator.
Thanks for the book recommendation, read it recently and liked it.
Also, for a more hollywood version (but still worth a watch), go see the "Lord of War" (2005) film. It touches upon a lot of topics in that book and impact of AK's on our world.
Highly recommend both!
The section on arms shipments to Nigeria reminded me strongly of the film "Lord of War," where Nic Cage's character notes that his favorite cover for his arms is the combination of tropical heat and old potatoes.
It looks like they track our geo-location and the referring website.
I like watching the animation, and it's a cool site. What would be more awesome (IMO) is if they took this information and created a visualization of the path their band took to finally reach me.
So, it showed them on the map, in their garage playing, to the studio, to distributing the track to that one guy, to him posting it to a website, to another guy re-tweeting, to some kids posting to Facebook, and finally reaching me on Hacker News - and do this with a map with photos on it as well.
Over time it would just get longer and more interesting. Especially if they let me link myself to the site somehow with a photo so when others watch their path, they see the people that got them there.
Just a thought. Kind-of like the beginning of that Movie "Lord of War" where they follow the bullet from manufacturing to the hands of the warlords to it being fired.
It reminds me of Lord of War http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295/
Lord of War is a great movie about arms dealers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399295/.
The title randomly reminded me of the AK-47 quote from Lord of War (an actually decent Cage film, and definitely a good bit of monologue):
Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.
Only tangentially related :) but I thought worth sharing. Anyone care to write a redis version?
Lord of War.
An extremely cool and informative movie, and utterly underrated IMO. One of my all-time favorite movies, I watch it once or twice a year.
From IMDB:
"In the 1980s in Little Odessa, the Ukrainian immigrant Yuri Orlov decides to change his economical life and becomes an arm dealer with his brother Vitaly Orlov. His business of gunrunner supplying illegal weapons in disturbed areas of the planet increases with the end of the Cold War, and Yuri bribes a Russian general to sell most of his arsenal. Meanwhile, he becomes a millionaire and uses his money to seduce the beautiful Ava Fontaine and they get married, having a son. The detective Jack Valentine chases Yuri trying to put him in jail, but in the end he understands that Yuri is a necessary evil for the interest of his nation."
The movie portrays Yuri (Nick Cage, whom I normally dislike intensely) in shades of grey rather than a black or white stereotypical Hollywood character. He drags his mixed up brother (Jared Leto) into his arms smuggling business as his business partner. Valentine (Ethan Hawke) is the straight-up Interpol agent on his case that won't break the rules under any circumstances, even if he can get away with it.
The movie deals with themes like family, love, politics, and business extremely well. The ending isn't the typical sunshine and puppy dogs either, but reflects what is most likely to happen in real life.
It has some great quotes also:
Without spoiling too much, there's one point where Yuri tries to get out of the arms trade (diversifying away from core strengths) and into honest import-export but it doesn't work out too well - "The margins are too thin".
When asked why do you continue to deal arms, even when wealthy - "Because I'm good at it".
"I've sold guns to nearly ever army except the Salvation Army".
Movie Poster Quote: "There's a firearm for every 12th man, woman and child on earth. The only question is...." (big puff on cigar) "...how do we arm the other 11?"
Trivia: in one scene, Yuri is running guns into Africa on a cargo plane. Literally one week earlier, the exact same plane was running guns into the Congo.
Great movie, can't recommend highly enough.
His other other movie, Lord of War, was also pretty good. It does involve entrepreneurship. The Terminal, his other other other movie, was ok, but no hacking. I haven't seen his other other other other movie, S1m0ne.