Is Lord of War based on a true story? Lord of War was a part of a wave of movies from the 2000s that explored the nitty-gritty of extremely wealthy, destructive careers. Three years prior to the MCU’s groundbreaking Iron Man premiere, Nicolas Cage’s depiction of Yuri Orlov exposed viewers to a captivating global war technocrat with much to win and even more to lose.
Cage’s acting really has a real-world basis, despite his inflated on-screen character. There are more than 550 million firearms in circulation globally, as Yuri Orlov informs viewers in the bizarre introduction of Lord of War. There is one gun for every 12 persons on the earth, on average. The one and only issue are, “How do we arm the other 11? One of Nicolas Cage’s most enduring film appearances resulted from this intriguing idea.
Cage excels in his portrayal as a significant figure in the global theatre of contemporary warfare as part of Orlov’s mission to arm every able-bodied set of hands in the globe. Hence comes the main question is Lord of War based on a true story or not? Or might it be the author’s imagination? Find out now!
Lord Of War Story
When it comes to conducting business, Cage’s character, Yuri Orlov, has no morals. His contacts span the globe as a wheeler trader. Yuri has always loved Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan), and once he succeeds, he is able to win her love and attention. They tie the knot and have a son. But Yuri’s methods for amassing his fortune are a mystery to Ava.
She only knows that his work keeps him around the world and allows her to live in luxury. Agent Jack Valentine of Interpol (Ethan Hawke) has been attempting to apprehend Yuri for decades, but Yuri is too cunning. He manages to barely comply with the law and is thus not subject to arrest.
Valentine is prepared to wait Yuri out since he is determined to get his hands on him. This tale is horrifying. It constantly pours blood. War is about killing, and Yuri is in the business of funding battles. He is neutral. He just represents the capitalist side. He makes all the money he can by selling what he can.
Is “Lord Of War” Based On A True Story?
The character Yuri Orlov from Lord of War is based on a number of actual contemporary international arms traffickers, most notably the notorious Viktor Bout. The claims regarding Bout’s private life and unlawful actions, the linkages suggested by these charges, and Bout’s own confessions during his trial served as the primary inspiration for many of the aspects of Orlov’s life in Lord of War.
Amnesty International applauded and even sponsored the film Lord of War shortly after its release because of the way it sheds light on the world’s clandestine arms trade, which is exemplified by the lead character Yuri Orlov.
Lord Of War’s Yuri Orlov’s Real-Life History
Viktor Anatolyevich Bout, from Narcos: Mexico, was a more successful smuggler if the accusations against him were accurate. However, rather than cocaine, Bout’s major offerings were firearms and ammunition.
From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Bout used his African air freight firm Air Cess to become the world’s most successful gunrunner, according to a number of intelligence assessments, eyewitness accounts, confessions, and paperwork and money trails gathered by several law enforcement organizations.
The terms “Sanctions Buster” and “Merchant of Death” were given to Bout for his capacity to get under UN arms embargoes in order to finance various armed groups in nations including Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, the Congo, and Liberia.
According to Lord of War’s portrayal of Orlov working with warlord Andre Baptiste in Liberia during the initial Liberian Civil War of the late 1990s, Bout reportedly provided weapons to terrorist offenses and previous Liberian president Taylor (Eamonn Walker).
Similar to drug lords in prison in Mexico, Viktor Bout covered his traces by engaging in legal businesses and activities. In addition to the governments of French, America, and Africa, Air Cess has provided air cargo services to the UN. He even aided in the release of Russian hostages when law police battled the Taliban during the Airstan hostage crisis in 1995.
Bout and his associates have steadfastly maintained that he is not only a genuine businessman but also an ecologist and environmental activist dedicated to the preservation of the rain forest, despite a United Nations report from 2000 linking Air Cess to gunrunning activities because of falsified documents related to a substantial export of weapons by a Bulgarian company.
Although Bout’s story isn’t as well-known as the American drug war, his exploits as a gun courier inspired the 2005 film Lord of War and prompted investigative journalist Douglas Farah to create the book Merchant of Death, which describes Bout’s verified and claimed operations.
After evading justice for nearly 20 years, Bout was apprehended in Thailand by the Royal Thai Police in 2008 on terrorism-related charges, extradited to the United States in 2010, and found guilty by a Manhattan federal court in 2011 of aiding a terrorist organization and planning to kill American citizens and officials.
Viktor Bout was sentenced to 25 years in jail as a result, and he has been incarcerated in the Marion U.S. Penitentiary in Illinois since 2012. Is Lord of War based on a true story, therefore, to address our major question? Yes, in a way, it is true that Victor Bout’s genuine narrative serves as the basis for Lord of War.