![]() For instance, while Bout agrees with United Nations documents saying that he was born in Tajik on January 13, 1967, South African intelligence says that Bout is ethnically Ukranian, which was adopted by Lord of War as Yuri Orlov’s origin. Apart from the fact that Cage has a striking resemblance to Viktor Bout, Lord of War also did a decent job of loosely adapting details from Bout’s life in order to craft a compelling semi-autobiographical tale. While Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage is notorious for making bad movies, Lord of War is definitely not one of them. Penitentiary, Marion in Illinois since 2012. This led to Viktor Bout receiving a 25-year prison sentence, which he has been serving at the U.S. in 2010, and convicted by a Manhattan federal court for aiding a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill U.S. After avoiding the law for almost 20 years, Bout was arrested in Thailand by the Royal Thai Police for terrorism charges in 2008, extradited to the U.S. war on drugs, his exploits as a gun runner not only served as Lord of War's true story inspiration, but also led to investigative journalist Douglas Farah to write the book Merchant of Death, which details Bout’s confirmed and alleged activities. Even after a United Nations report on forged documents related to a large export of weapons by a Bulgarian company linked Air Cess to gunrunning activities in 2000, Bout and his associates have maintained that not only is he a legitimate businessman, but an ecologist and environmentalist who believes in saving the rain forest.Īlthough Bout’s case isn’t as publicized as the U.S. He even provided support towards freeing Russian hostages when law enforcers negotiated with the Taliban during 1995’s Airstan hostage crisis. In fact, Air Cess has also provided air freight services to the United Nations as well as the French, American, and African governments. Bout also allegedly supplied weapons to war criminal and former president of Liberia Charles Taylor during the First Liberian Civil War in the late ‘90s, which is referenced in Lord of War when Orlov works with Liberian president and warlord Andre Baptiste (Eamonn Walker).Īnother thing that Viktor Bout had in common with convicted Mexican drug lords is that he used legitimate businesses and activities to cover his tracks. ![]() This earned Bout the nicknames “Sanctions Buster” and “Merchant of Death,” as he was particularly adept at getting around UN arms embargoes in order to supply various armed groups in countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, the Congo, and Liberia. Based on multiple intelligence reports, eyewitness accounts, confessions, and paper and money trails collected by several law enforcement organizations, Bout used his African air freight business Air Cess to become the most prolific gunrunner in the world from the ‘90s to the early 2000s. However, instead of cocaine, Bout’s primary products were firearms and ammunition. If the allegations against him are true, Viktor Anatolyevich Bout was an even more successful smuggler than Narcos: Mexico’s Amado Carrillo Fuentes. ![]() Though Yuri Orlov is based on various arms dealers, Lord of War's true story inspiration is mainly Viktor Bout. ![]() Related: Kick-Ass Finally Gave Nicolas Cage The Superhero Movie He Deserved Soon after the release of Lord of War, human rights group Amnesty International not only praised but even endorsed the movie because of how it shines a spotlight on the global illicit arms trafficking industry - represented by fictional protagonist Yuri Orlov being such a believable version of real arms dealers like Viktor Bout. Many of the details from Orlov’s life in Lord of War were directly lifted from the allegations surrounding Bout’s personal life and illegal activities, the connections implied by these allegations, and Bout’s own testimonies during his trial. Though Orlov is comparable to the MCU's Tony Stark, Lord of War does not count among Nicolas Cage's superhero movies, which in contrast to this one are entirely fictional. Lord of War’s Yuri Orlov is based on several real international arms dealers from recent history, chief among them being the notorious Viktor Bout.
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