Analysis of Lord Of War

Analysis of opening scene from Lord of War

The opening scene from Lord of War tells of a bullet’s journey from a factory to an African war zone and to the forehead of a child soldier. It shows with real intensity the message of the whole film.

It takes the form of a first person narrative where the I is a bullet. It takes us through his life and death from his viewpoint.

Genre

The genre of this film is a crime war film.

Narrative

The opening scenes take us through the life of a 7.62 x 39mm bullet from construction in a Soviet Union weapons factory , to being shipped across the world to an African warzone, loaded into the magazine of an AK-47 and fired into the head of a child soldier.

Setting

The initial establishing shot shows a sea of bullets in the bullet factory. It shows us straight away that the bullet is the important object in the film. Immediately there are connotations of death, emphasised by the smoke in the background, which suggests a war torn country. There is a close up shot of a man, Nicholas Cage, who talks directly to the audience. He is casually smoking, talking in a casual way connoting he cares nothing for war or death but only cares about the profit he can make. The shot raises up to face level, the music stops and straight away the whole tone of the setting is lighter. We can see a blue sky and we can hear chirping birds. Nicholas Cage smiles.

The setting moves into the ammunitions factory, and then follows the bullet on his journey in a crate to Africa.

Themes

The theme of the film is to give us an insight into the dark world of arms trading and the illegal export of small weapons to the African continent. It looks at the gun violence in Africa.

Character

When we first meet the main actor he appears with the background of the bullets. He is dressed in black giving connotations of death again, carrying a briefcase to show he is a businessman, and he has a red tie giving connotations of blood. He is a cold, hard businessman showing no emotion.

Atmosphere

The scene turns to the ammunitions factory. Here the colours are cold, stark, just a sea of monochrome, and the lighting is dim showing it is business. The low lighting also connotes misery. There is a wide shot as the bullet is looking down a conveyor belt at the workers. This connotes a long journey ahead for the bullet. The people inspecting the bullets have a calm uninterested attitude towards the bullets.

The bullet is transported in crates. There are a vast number of crates connoting the scale of the arms business. The bullet is transported by lorry and boat. At one stage the bullet is picked up by a finger and thumb and inspected.

There is a real change in colour and ambience as the bullet arrives in Africa. There is a lot of colour – bright tropical sunshine and clear blue seas. The bullet is gold – flashing in the sunshine. There are sound effects of gunfire in the background connoting war and danger. This shows us the bullet has arrived in the war zone.

There is a shot taken as a view down the barrel of the gun. This clearly enables the audience to imagine they are the bullet shooting through the barrel. There is a close up shot of the child, his eyes wide connoting youth and innocence. Behind him is a building riddled with bullet holes connoting an area torn apart by war.  As the bullet hits the child’s forehead , there is a burst of blood amidst the silence which is powerful and effective. It connotes the quick end of the bullet.

Sound

The opening begins with a strange eerie sound which becomes louder as the opening extends.

When Nicholas Cage first appears amidst the bullets, he turns to face the audience and says :

“There are over 550million firearms in world-wide circulation. That’s one firearm for every 12 people on the planet. The only question is.…how do we arm the other 11?”

This immediately sets the scene for the questions that will be asked in the film.

The non-diegetic music is Stop Children, What’s That Sound? From Buffalo Springfield, and this starts to play as we enter the ammunitions factory. It is a calm, relaxed song and the pace of the song matches the course of the bullet.

When the bullet is being transported there is a lot of diegetic sound coming from the crowds and the cars and trucks. There are the sound effects of jostling sounds of transport and people’s voices. There is a sense of great action and movement.

As the bullet fires out of the gun, we hear the sound of the bullet whizzing through the air. This gives a real sense of realism to the shot and the audience can feel the speed of the bullet.  As the bullet hits the child’s forehead,  the music cuts for effect.  The silence makes us feel shock and horror at the sight.

Titles

The names of the actors come up in stark white letters at different stages of the bullet’s creation throughout the opening scene as the screen goes black each time. The title – Lord of War – is shown in capitals showing its importance.