Original subtitles

Everyone is intimidated by a shark. Become a Card Shark AMERICASCARDROOM.COM

[distant gunfire]

[birdsong]

There are over 550,000,000 firearms in worldwide circulation.

That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet.

The only question is...

...how do we arm the other eleven?

[♪ Buffalo Springfield: For What It's Worth]

♪ There's somethin' happenin' here

♪ But what it is ain't exactly clear

♪ There's a man with a gun over there

♪ Tellin' me I got to beware

♪ I think it's time we Stop, children, what's that sound?

♪ Everybody look what's goin' down

[chatter]

♪ There's battle lines bein' drawn

♪ And nobody's right If everybody's wrong

♪ Young people speakin' their minds

♪ Are gettin' so much resistance From behind

♪ It's time we stop, hey, What's that sound?

♪ Everybody look what's goin' down

♪ What a field-day for the heat

♪ A thousand people in the street

♪ Singin' songs And they're carryin' signs

♪ Mostly say "hooray for our side"

♪ It's time we stop, hey What's that sound?

♪ Everybody look what's goin' down

♪ Paranoia strikes deep

♪ Into your life it will creep

♪ It starts when you're always afraid

♪ You step outta line The man come and take you away

♪ You better stop, children What's that sound?

♪ Everybody look what's goin' down

♪ There's battle lines bein' drawn

♪ Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

♪ Young people speakin' their minds

♪ Are gettin' so much resistance From behind

♪ It's time we stop, hey What's that sound?

♪ Everybody look what's goin' down ♪

[man] You don't have to worry.

I'm not gonna tell you a pack of lies to make me look good.

I'm just gonna tell you what happened.

My name is Yuri Orlov.

When I was a boy, my family came to America.

But not all the way.

Like most Ukrainians, we congregated in Brighton Beach.

It reminded us of the Black Sea.

I soon realised we'd just swapped one hell for another.

Even in hell, an angel sometimes makes an appearance.

I'd worshipped Ava Fontaine since I was ten years old.

Of course, she didn't know I existed.

I was startin' to think she had a point.

For the first 20-odd years of my life,

Little Odessa was to me what it is to the Q train:

the end of the line.

Oh, I did lie about my name. It's not really Yuri Orlov.

There've been few occasions in the 20th century

when it's been an advantage to be a Jew, but in the '70s,

to escape the Soviet Union, our family pretended to be Jewish.

Little about my life has been kosher ever since.

- How's it goin', brother? - It's not.

That's Vitaly, my younger brother.

He was as lost as me, he just didn't know it yet.

Yuri. [speaks Russian] You late.

My father took his assumed identity to heart.

He was more Jewish than most Jews,

which drove my Catholic mother crazy.

How many times? I can't eat shellfish. It's treyf.

- You're not Jewish. - I like it.

I like the hat. It remind us there is something above us.

I like that.

I'm going to temple.

You're not going to temple. You go more than the rabbi.

[Russian]

[mother speaks Russian]

Yuri. Don't forget to check the specials at The Palace.

Growing up in Little Odessa, murder was an everyday part of life.

Russian mobsters had also migrated from the Soviet Union,

and, when they came to America, their baggage came with them.

[tyres screeching]

There was always some gangster getting whacked in my neighbourhood,

but I'd never seen it with my own eyes.

I had this knack of showing up five minutes before,

or five minutes after. Not that day.

[violin playing]

It hit me. It couldn't have hit me harder if I was the one who'd been shot.

You go into the restaurant business

because people are always going to have to eat.

That was the day I realised

my destiny lay in fulfilling another basic human need.

The next Sabbath, I went to temple with my father.

However, it wasn't God I was trying to get close to.

[father] Eli, my elder son, Yuri.

My contact at synagogue landed me my first Israeli-made Uzi sub-machine guns.

The first time you sell a gun is a lot like the first time you have sex.

You have no idea what you're doing, but it is exciting,

and, one way or another, it's over way too fast.

Gentlemen.

The new Uzi machine pistol, big firepower in a small package.

This baby uses 9-mm hollow points, twenty 25-round extendable mags.

Rear flip adjustable sights.

Silencer standard. Excellent recoil reduction.

Muzzle jump reduced 40%. 60% improved noise suppression.

You could pump a mag into me right now

and never wake the guy in the next room.

Of course, that would eliminate your opportunity for repeat business.

I did have a natural instinct for smuggling contraband.

Fortunately, back then, a video camera was as big as a bazooka.

[sighs]

I'd been running away from violence my whole life,

and I should have been running towards it.

It's in our nature.

The earliest human skeletons had spearheads in their ribcages.

[♪ David Bowie: Young Americans]

Where have you been? What if we had a customer?

God bless America.

[cash register rings]

- Mmm. Mm-hmm. - Yeah?

- [choking noises] - [Vitaly speaks Russian]

"Beware of the dog"? You don't have a dog. Are you tryin' to scare people?

Nah, it's to scare me. Remind me to beware of the dog in me.

The dog that wants to fuck everything, wants to fight and kill weaker dogs.

I guess it's, uh, to remind me to be more human.

Isn't bein' a dog part of bein' human?

What if that's the best part of you, the dog part?

What if you're really just a two-legged dog?

You need to see somebody.

It stinks in here.

I'd always wanted to do something big with my life,

I just didn't know what.

Anyhow, I figured, if I was going into the gun trade,

I was going to aim high.

Vitaly, stop fuckin' around, I wanna talk to you.

[seagulls calling]

You read the newspapers, Vit?

Newspaper? [scoffs] It's always the same.

You're right. Every day there's people shooting each other.

Know what I do when I see that?

I look to see what guns they're using, and I think, "Why not my guns?"

You opening a gun shop?

Already more of those in America than McDonald's.

Even with all the gangsters here, the margins are too low.

- You've worked out the margins? - Sure.

Forget gang wars.

The real money's in actual wars. Between countries.

Yuri, what the fuck do you know about guns?

I know which end I'd rather be on.

I made the first sale. We're already in business.

Whoa... We?

I need a partner.

I don't know. I don't know, Yuri. I don't know.

Vitaly, I've tasted your borscht, you're no chef.

I can eat in the restaurant forfree, and I still don't.

- Fuck you. - We're doing nothing with our lives.

I mean...

This is shit. This is shit.

That's true,

but maybe doin' nothing's better than doin' this.

I need you.

[Russian]

[♪ Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries]

[man] Sir, sir,

may I interest you in the shoulder-fired SA-7 surface-to-air missiles?

The oldermodel, not so effective against modern military aircraft

but deadly if used against a commercial airliner.

I'm giving them away at 850.

It was the '80s, and the Cold War was far from thawed.

Most deals were government-to-government.

It was a mostly private club, with a lifetime club president.

- That's him. - Oh, the big shot?

Simeon Weisz. Angola, Mozambique.

Those Exocet missiles in the Falklands.

He was selling guns before there was gunpowder.

I'll be right back.

Mr Weisz? Mr Weisz?

It's OK, they're talking.

- May I help? - Yes. A mutual friend,

Eli Kurtzman, from Brighton Beach, import/export, said to contact you.

I have a business proposal. Perhaps we could discuss it.

I don't think you and I are in the same business. [chuckles]

You think I just sell guns, don't you?

I don't. I take sides.

But in the Iran/Iraq war, you sold guns to both sides.

Did you ever consider that I wanted both sides to lose?

Bullets change governments far surer than votes.

You're in the wrong place, my young friend.

This is no place for amateurs.

[Russian]

Curious how you revert to your native tongue in moments of extreme anger.

And ecstasy.

[man and woman groaning]

[Russian]

[shouting]

[laughter, groaning]

Oh, you are beautiful. What's your name again?

[television in German]

The only option for Vitaly and me was under-the-counter gunrunning.

I got my first break in Lebanon, after the suicide bombing.

But I wasn't the only local kid making good.

[distant gunfire]

When the United States leaves a war zone,

they generally don't take their munitions.

It costs more to bring it back than to buy new stock.

So.

We sell by the kilo.

They're second-hand weapons, but they're still OK.

- How many kilos would you like? - 5,000.

I had a flair for languages,

but I soon discovered that what talks best

is dollars, dinars, drachmas, roubles, rupees and pounds fuckin' sterling.

Of course, the US Army got a piece of the action.

Army salaries were no better in the '80s than they are today.

Some of the brass, like Lieutenant Colonel Southern,

needed to raise money for their own private wars.

Good to make your acquaintance.

This is bullshit money, Vit. This is small fucking potatoes.

- What, you wanna go more legit? - No, more illegal.

What I would give right now for a plate of cabbage and potatoes.

[gunfire]

It's not our fight.

Vit, come on.

Let's go. Come on.

Selling guns is like selling vacuum cleaners.

You make calls, pound the pavement, take orders.

I was an equal-opportunity merchant of death.

I supplied every army but the Salvation Army.

I sold Israeli-made Uzis to Muslims.

[♪ Flying Lizards: Money (That's What I Want)]

I sold communist-made bullets to fascists.

[Asian language]

I even shipped cargo to Afghanistan when they were fighting my fellow Soviets.

I never sold to Osama bin Laden.

Not on any moral grounds. Back then, he was always bouncing cheques.

[flies buzzing]

[gunfire]

By the mid-'80s, my weapons were represented

in eight of the world's top ten war zones.

[cash register ringing]

There's no problem leading a double life.

It's the triple and quadruple lives that get you in the end.

Back then I carried a French, British, Israeli and Ukrainian passport,

and a student visa for the US, but that's another story.

I also packed six different briefcases depending on who I was that day

and the region of the world I was visiting.

Without operations like mine,

it would be impossible for certain countries to conduct a respectable war.

I was able to navigate around those inconvenient little arms embargoes.

There are three basic types of arms deal:

White, being legal; black, being illegal;

and my personal favourite colour, grey.

Sometimes I made the deal so convoluted

it was hard for me to work out if they were on the level.

To keep authorities in the dark, I often spoke in code.

Rocket-launchers were "mothers", rockets "children",

the AK-47 assault rifle was the "Angel King".

It's Yuri. [snickers]

Yeah, well... Yeah, Raoul.

Raoul, the Angel King will arrive tomorrow. [laughs]

Hallelujah to you too. All right.

The point is, if I've done my job right, an arms embargo should be

- practically impossible to enforce. - [phone ringing]

What?

OK, just slow the fuck down.

I can't understand you. What?

What do you mean, "tipped off"? They know where we are?

Where are they? Well, how long have I got?

"Not long"? What does that mean? Shit.

- Do we try to lose them? - On this?

- Yuri, we have to get off. - No. No one's going anywhere.

Slow. Dead slow. Buy me time.

[bell rings]

Yeah, it's Yuri. Get that fuckin' rag down!

I need another handle for this tub. Something in our weight class.

You! Over the side. We're changing the name. Now!

Yes, it's gotta check out!

The way I look at it, what's in a name?

Have you got a shorter name?

I'd often changed the registration of a ship or plane,

but never at such short notice.

Damn. They're hauling.

What? "Kono"? How do you spell that? K-O-N-O. OK, well, that's good.

"Kono". K-O-N-O.

What do we fly? Dutch? Got it. Vit, get me a Dutch flag, will you?

- Faster, or I'll send your ass in! - Yuri, I don't have Dutch!

- What? - I've got Belgium.

What use is that? He's painting a name registered in the fucking Netherlands.

- I've got a French flag. - So?

Turn it sideways, it's Dutch.

[Yuri laughs] That's why you're my brother.

[Yuri] All right. Good. Everybody look innocent now.

They say every man has his price, but not every man gets it.

Interpol agent Jack Valentine couldn't be bought,

at least not with money.

For Jack, glory was the prize.

Yeah, it's the Kono, it's not the Kristol.

Kono, K-O-N-O.

- [man] It's clean, sir. - Clean? It sure doesn't look clean.

I'm gonna go aboard.

Phone in a sighting of the Kristol south of Aruba.

Even when I was up against an overzealous agent,

I had a number of methods for discouraging a search.

I routinely mislabelled my arms shipments "farm machinery",

and I've yet to meet the customs official

who will open a container marked "radioactive waste"

to verify its contents.

But my favourite is the unique combination of week-old potatoes

and tropical heat.

It smells.

Sir, a sighting of the Kristol, due north.

Most importantly, I kept a number of intelligence people on the payroll

to supply their colleagues with counter-intelligence.

Let's go.

The second rule of gunrunning is,

always ensure you have a foolproof way to get paid,

preferably in advance, ideally to an off-shore account.

That's why I chose my customers so carefully.

Say what you like about warlords and dictators,

they have a highly developed sense of order.

They always pay their bills on time.

[Spanish]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

- What the fuck you doin'? - Fuck you!

Fuck you!

Ah, ah... No, Vit!

[Yuri] Shit.

The first and most important rule of gunrunning

is never get shot with your own merchandise.

You OK?

[sighs] I think so.

- So what do we do now? - Let's celebrate.

[♪ Eric Clapton: Cocaine]

Yeah.

Aah!

[yelps]

That narco-guerrilla had his facts right.

After shipping it stateside, the return on that blow netted me a healthy profit.

It would've been even better, except one kilo never made it back.

Vitaly? Vit?

To this day, I don't know what Vitaly was running away from.

Maybe just from Vitaly.

I found him 12 days, 2,000 miles and 150 grams later

in a Bolivian boarding house.

Of course, my dream girl had gotten there before me.

Vit?

[humming]

[Yuri] C'mon!

[pounding on door]

Ah, Yuri. It's my brother, Yuri.

He's my big brother.

- What the fuck is that? - Ukraine.

I was young, but I remember.

Look. I... I start in Odessa, right,

and then I... [gulps] I work my way to the Crimean...

You're gonna be dead before Kiev. We're goin' home.

- Come on. - You fuck! You... fucking fuck!

You fucking fuck! What the fuck is your problem?

[Vitaly grunts]

[Yuri] Come on, Vit.

- [Vitaly] It's so nice to be home. - Yeah, we're gonna get you home. C'mon.

[Yuri exhales deeply] Get out of the car.

Vitaly, I need you to get out of the car.

I promised our parents.

- Please. - You're gonna have a great time.

It's a top place. Two Ford Models checked in last week,

that cute weathergirl's been here since July...

Please.

Please, Yuri.

You're a good brother.

- You're a good brother, Yuri. - OK. All right.

- Good brother. - All right, get out of the car.

OK. Get out of the car.

From then on, I was a one-man operation.

I never understood what separated the recreation drug-user from the habitual,

but, for the grace of God, it could have been me

snorting lines as long as the Belt Parkway.

However, I wasn't entirely free of the grip of addiction myself.

There she was again, Ava Fontaine.

In my neighbourhood, they say the good get out.

In our own ways, we'd both conquered the world.

[♪ Grace Jones: La Vie en Rose]

You can't force someone to fall in love with you, but you can improve your odds.

It cost me 20 grand to book her for a fake photo-shoot,

another 12 to buy out the hotel.

It's a popular hotel, huh?

- Ava Fontaine. - Yuri Orlov.

- What brings you to St Barts? - Photo-shoot.

At least that was the plan. Guess the photographer got stuck in Miami.

Hurricane, though there's nothing on the news.

Those things can come out of nowhere.

So the job's been cancelled, and wouldn't you know,

there's no flight back to New York until Tuesday.

You can hitch a ride with me if you like. I'm leaving tomorrow.

Meanwhile, why don't I take your picture?

In my experience,

some of the most successful relationships are based on lies.

Since that's where they usually end up, it's a logical place to start.

Right there, right there. Hold it. Oh, my God.

I nearly went broke trying to convince her I was anything but.

I knew Ava was not a woman to be seduced by a ride in a private jet,

unless you owned the jet.

- This is your plane? - That is my name.

Course I was lying.

The plane was a rental, like the car and even the suit I was standing in.

At the last minute, I bribed the crew for the paint job.

Luckily, by he time we landed, Ava wasn't looking anywhere but in my eyes.

I had no idea. I'm sorry I didn't recognise you.

Don't apologise. I put clothes on for a living.

At least you're not taking them off.

I would be if half the photographers had their way. What about you?

I'm in transport. International air freight, mostly.

Business is good.

Where are you from?

I was born in Ukraine, but grew up in Brooklyn.

- No. - What, you too?

Williamsburg.

Well, here's to a hurricane.

Without it, I never would have met you.

This is no accident, is it, Yuri?

It feels like... fate.

I don't believe in fate.

What do you believe in?

- Is that a view, or is that a view? - That's a view.

- [applause] - [people cheering]

Thank you. Thank you all.

- [chattering] - [music playing]

- Mazel tov. - Congratulations.

Thanks.

Always remember, son. There is something above you.

Sure, Dad. A $40,000 crystal chandelier.

Make yourselves at home. Go.

- Go! - [all laugh]

[♪ Louis Armstrong: A Kiss To Build A Dream On]

I'm sorry. Today must be tough.

Be nice to have a couple more guests from my side of the family.

- I'm sure they're watching right now. - Thank you.

But you don't believe that, Yuri. Remember?

I know you, Yuri. I know you're not everything you seem.

Don't worry, I won't ask a lot of questions.

I don't wanna hear you lie.

You take risks. Just...

...promise me you won't risk us.

That's the trouble with falling in love with a dream girl.

They have a habit of becoming real.

I've never been so glad to see Vitaly.

- So fucking beautiful! - Oh!

Brother, brother, thank you so much for giving me such a... beautiful sister.

He was out of rehab, and out of his mind.

Dance, dance, we have to dance!

- All right. - It's a celebration. To Yuri!

But for once, he rescued me.

I was still living way beyond my means, mortgaged to the hilt,

using one credit card to pay off another,

anything to keep Ava in the style to which she had,

thanks largely to me, become accustomed.

- Ava. Ava, this is too much. - Yuri likes to spoil you.

Then suddenly, all my Christmases came at once.

Nicki, you did it! Good boy!

[laughs] That's my grandson!

Yuri, don't you wanna see what your son is doing?

Whoever said it's better to give than receive

never got a Christmas present like the one I got in 1991

- from Mikhail Gorbachev. - What the hell's the matter?

- It's over! - What's over?

The Cold fucking War! The Soviet fucking Union. The Evil fucking Empire!

Mikhail's saying "no más"! He's thrown in the towel! It's over!

- Your son is walking. - That's incredible, honey.

At least they'll get religious freedom.

Hmm. Let's hope so.

I think I'll go back for a visit.

You stay in touch with Uncle Dmitri?

I'm not a fool, Yuri.

I don't think you're going there just to sell Pepsi-Cola.

Is this how you want to be remembered?

I don't want to be remembered at all. If I'm remembered, it means I'm dead.

[door opening]

Merry fuckin' Christmas! [giggling]

- Who is this, Vitaly? - [chuckles]

- I'm Angel. - Her name really is Angel.

She's a fairy.

Let's put her on top of the Christmas tree! C'mon.

Whoa! C'mon.

- I love you. - C'mon.

- I love you all. - [crying]

Take this.

I'm going back to Ukraine.

I miss Odessa.

- I miss you. - I miss you.

[kissing]

Be careful, Yuri. Those things you sell kill. [sighs]

Inside.

You're high.

That's true.

Hello, Christian.

[♪ military band music]

During the Cold War,

the Red Army stationed nearly one million troops in Ukraine

because of its strategic military importance.

The day after the Wall came down, the pay cheques stopped coming.

[Russian]

There's nothing better for an arms dealer

than the combination of disgruntled soldiers and warehouses full of weapons.

I was hoping Major General Dmitri Volkoff

would open a lot of armoury doors

in a lot of military bases.

For a start, he was family,

he was a highly decorated hero of the Red Army,

and he was almost permanently shit-faced.

I can't just sell you government property, Yuri.

- I have to report. - Report to who? Moscow?

As of last week, Moscow's in a foreign country.

- New flag, new boss. - There is no new boss yet.

They're all too busy squabbling

over who gets the presidential holiday home at the Black Sea.

It's beautiful.

The ones who know don't care anymore, and the ones who care don't know.

Mm. Show me your inventory.

Those 45 years of mutual hatred between the East and the West

had generated the highest weapons build-up in history.

The Soviets had guns coming out of the demon hole.

Huge stockpiles, and now no enemy.

How many Kalashnikovs do you have?

Forty thousand.

Is that a four? It doesn't look like a four to me. It looks more like a one.

No, it's a four.

It's whatever we say it is, because no one else will know the difference.

[sighs] Ten thousand Kalashnikovs for a battalion.

Your stocks are dangerously depleted, Dmitri.

You should order more from the factory.

Someone will work it out.

- What happens then? - We'll cut them in.

The end of the Cold War

was the beginning of the hottest time in arms dealing.

The arms bazaar was open.

Guided missiles, unguided missiles.

Mortars, mines, armoured personnel carriers.

Whole tank divisions.

[Russian]

I even landed a squadron of helicopter gunships.

The most sophisticated fighting machines,

built for a war with America that never happened.

[Russian]

Thanks to me, they'd finally get to fire a shot in anger.

I have a feeling it wasn't exactly what Comrade Lenin had in mind

when he advocated the redistribution of wealth.

But I wasn't the only one offering a crash course in capitalism.

I had rivals.

Inform your commanding officer that Simeon Weisz is here to meet him.

You don't know who I am, do you?

[Russian]

[speaks Russian]

You're late.

So it appears.

[Russian folk music plays]

[Russian]

You look a little lost, Simeon. Is the world changing too fast?

- I'm here, aren't I? - Not all of you, I think.

You've gotten so rich selling for the CIA,

you can't get that ideology out of your head.

Oh, the Cold War had its uses.

Kept the tensions frozen.

Now it's harder to determine... which side one's on.

Things have become more... complicated.

No, it's gotten simpler.

There's no place in gunrunning for politics anymore, Simeon.

I sell to leftists and rightists.

I'd sell to pacifists, but they're not the most regular of customers.

You're not an internationalist

until you've supplied weapons to kill your own countrymen.

This current state of chaos won't last forever.

There'll have to be order.

Instead of cutting each other's throats, it...

...may be beneficial if we work together. What do you think?

What do I think?

I think you are the amateur now,

and I think you should go with your instincts, with your first instinct.

I'm the same man who was not good enough for you before, and...

... I'm just not good enough for you now.

The problem with gunrunners going to war...

...is that there's no shortage of ammunition.

This was the chaos that the old guard had always feared.

As far as they were concerned, I was giving arms dealers a bad name.

But then, they could hardly report me to the Better Business Bureau.

And Ukraine wasn't the only former state

with an unpaid army and stockpiles of guns.

There was Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Belarus.

All there for the taking.

[♪ Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake]

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 will 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's for sure: no one was lining up to buy their cars.

[seagulls calling]

[Russian]

I thought you were watching out for these people.

How can I? You keep selling my helicopters!

You are too greedy, Yuri. I can't hold him forever!

- I've got paperwork. - Not for the gunships.

You know the penalty for sanction-busting?

Selling the military helicopter is a major violation.

Military helicopter.

It's not a military helicopter. It's a rescue helicopter.

Get to work, son.

[Russian]

The law's on our side.

All right, let me see your papers.

No, no, put that away. Let me see your papers.

Yuri Orlov.

Mr. Orlov. Always in the wrong place at the right time.

We've met before. Off the coast of Colombia?

What was the name of that freighter? Was it the Kono or the Kristol?

The crew called that vessel a lot of names,

none of them repeatable in polite company.

- [gun cocks] - Answer the question.

Oh. The new MP-5.

- Would you like a silencer for that? - I need to see your papers.

Dmitri.

The end user certificate for this aircraft states "Burkina Fasou".

Nice. Very nice. Did you type this up yourself?

The helicopter's to be used on humanitarian missions.

- Oh, so you're a humanitarian? - Oh, absolutely.

- [scoffs] This is a military aircraft. - Not anymore.

Listen to the nephew.

What can they do with military hardware but convert it to civilian use?

The only way you could die from this baby now is if a food drop hits you.

And this stuff? Is that going to Burkina Faso as well?

Ah. But to a different client at a different address.

It's just a coincidence? Do you take me for a complete fucking fool?

Not complete, sir. And while I hesitate to tell you your job,

I must point out that when shipped separately,

the weapons and the aircraft both comply with current Interpol trade standards.

We both know that is an obscene bureaucratic loophole

that's gonna be closed any goddamned day.

But it's not closed.

And while certain people might interpret this cargo as suspicious,

thank God we live in a world where

suspicion alone does not constitute a crime,

and where men like you respect the rule of law.

[sighs]

I was as guilty as sin, but Valentine couldn't prove it.

He was the rarest breed of law-enforcement officer.

The type who knew I was breaking the law,

but wouldn't break it himself to bust me.

Valentine wasn't the only one trying to put me out of business.

My uncle had turned down a half dozen rival arms dealers,

sometimes with offers better than mine,

but to Dmitri, you couldn't put a price on loyalty.

[speaks Russian]

- What was he doing here? - Hoping to beat your offer.

I told him to go have intercourse with himself.

- But Yuri... - You need to make more pay-offs.

- Too many know. - Don't worry.

There are more VCRs, cigarettes. I left them in your new car.

Even your enemy was admiring that car.

- [laughs] I'm the luckiest man alive. - You are.

[phone ringing]

- Hello? - Ava?

Hi, baby.

- Have you forgot what time it is? - Sorry, I...

How was that... Your audition?

They're going in another direction. The direction of someone who can act.

They don't deserve you.

Where are you? Is everything OK?

- It was a rough day at the office. - Come home.

- Soon. How's Nicki? - He misses you. We both do.

It's lonely without you here.

You know I don't like nights. Ever since my parents...

[gunfire]

- Yuri, what's that? - A party.

I'd better go. I just wanted to call and hear your voice. Kiss Nicki for me.

- I love you. - [dial tone]

The pillaging didn't die with my uncle.

After the Wall came down,

32 billion dollars worth of arms were stolen and resold from Ukraine alone.

One of the greatest heists of the 20th century.

[distant chattering]

The primary market was Africa.

Eleven major conflicts involving 32 countries in less than a decade.

A gunrunner's wet dream.

At the time, the West couldn't care less.

They had a white war in what was left of Yugoslavia.

I did the bulk of my business in Liberia, "Land of the Free".

Originally established as a homeland for freed American slaves,

it's been enslaved by one dictator or another ever since.

The latest was American-educated, self-declared president Andre Baptiste.

[rap music on car stereo]

- [revving] - Mr Yuri!

I'm Andre Baptiste Jr.

- My father would like to meet you. - What an honour.

[revving]

Thank him. But unfortunately I have other business.

It's a shame. It's... It's a very busy schedule.

[revving]

It is not,

as they say,

optional.

My father is easily offended.

My schedule just freed up.

Whoo!

President Baptiste was my best customer, but I was in no hurry to meet him.

He'd gotten a reputation for routinely hacking off the limbs

of those who opposed him.

His seven-year civil war has been described as

"a relentless campaign of sadistic, wanton violence."

That kind of sums up Andy for me.

The Glock is interesting.

It's made of a polymer composite.

Many of my clients feel they can get through airport security

without setting off bells. Personally, I do not recommend that.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a traditional wheel gun,

there's no substitute for the six inches of muzzle energy of the.357 Magnum.

And, of course, it will never jam.

- Why'd you do that? - What did you say?

Well, now you're gonna have to buy it. It's a used gun.

How can I sell a used gun? [scoffs]

[chuckles] "A used gun."

"A used gun"?

That's a good one.

You know, there is no discipline with the youth today.

I try to set an example, but it is difficult, huh?

- Personally, I blame MTV. - [distant gunfire]

"A used gun."

[chuckles]

I think, you and I,

we can do business.

If I thought I was scared of Andre Senior,

I knew I was scared of Andre Junior.

Like father, like son.

The guava doesn't fall too far from the tree.

He was also a cannibal.

They say Andre would eat a victim's heart while it was still beating,

to give him superhuman strength.

[gunfire]

Monrovia itself was like being on another planet.

Planet Monrovia.

From the temperature, it was obviously a planet close to the sun.

I rarely saw another white man, and I never left town alone.

Outside town was the edge of hell. I didn't wanna even gaze into it.

This is your hotel. Two stars.

Can you bring me the gun of Rambo?

- Part one, two or three? - I've only seen part one.

The M-60. Would you like the armour-piercing bullets?

Please.

My father left a welcoming present in your room.

Enjoy. [laughs]

[rap music on car stereo]

[distant gunfire]

[man speaking French]

My God. She nearly got her head cut off.

When I get to America, I will not live in Brentwood.

Second floor.

[♪ Portishead: Glory Box]

In the most AIDS-infested region of the globe, where one in four is infected,

Andre's idea of a joke was to put a young Iman and a young Naomi in my bed

and no condom within a hundred miles.

[clears throat]

Hello, Mr Yuri.

Hi.

We'd be happy to make you happy.

Ah... I can't.

I'd love to,

but I can't.

Don't worry. We don't have anything.

[groans]

How do you know?

Do we look like it?

Well, what if I have AIDS? Don't you worry?

[distant gunfire]

- You worry too much. - Huh.

Why do you worry about something that can kill you in ten years...

...when there's so many things that could kill you today?

- Now... - [distant gunfire]

How can we make you happy?

[whispers] By leaving.

- [distant gunfire] - [girl scoffs]

[sighs]

[Andre Sr] These are my Kalashnikov kids,

my Boy Brigades.

[military music playing]

I can see what you are thinking, but we need every man we can get.

Even if they're not men?

A bullet from a 14-year-old is just as effective as one from a 40-year-old.

Often more effective.

No one can stop this bath of blood.

It's not "bath of blood". It's "bloodbath".

- Hmm. Thank you... - [distant gunfire]

...but I prefer it my way.

I am not going to pay your asking price.

We are not a rich people, and besides,

the market is already flooded with your Kalashnikovs.

In some parts of my country you can get one for the price of a chicken.

You can't just look at the unit price. You forget ancillary costs,

end-user certificates need to be forged and notarised, shell companies set up,

insurance purchased, pilots and crews hired.

Not to mention the bribes.

You can't get a nut and bolt out of the Eastern Bloc without a bribe.

There's one bribe for the nut, another for the bolt.

Andy, Andy, listen to me. This is an expensive proposition.

Andy.

I am going to pay you... in timber.

Or stones.

[clears throat] I'll take the stones.

It's kinda hard to get a tree trunk into my hand luggage.

I know you're planning a new offensive.

If you can delay a week, I can get you armoured personnel carriers.

They'd greatly reduce your casualties,

and give you a significant strategic advantage.

You know, they call me the lord of war,

but perhaps it is you.

It's not "lord of war". It's "warlord".

Thank you, but I prefer it my way.

Conflict diamonds are a common currency in West Africa,

also referred to as "blood diamonds",

since bloodshed is what they generally finance.

By the late '90s, my wealth had caught up to my lies about my wealth.

Even surpassed my lies.

I could even afford to become a patron of the arts.

It's just that I can't believe it.

Well, of... Of course it's wonderful, I just...

I didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Yes. Well, that... Well... [laughs] That would be great, too, yeah.

It's... It's wonderful. Thank you so much. It's...

Yuri. OK, thank you. Bye.

That was the dealer. I just sold my first painting.

- [gasps] That's fantastic! - Yes! [laughs]

- Well, who bought it? - It's someone important.

- They want to remain anonymous. - Oh, this is so wonderful.

- How was your trip? - Same old same old. Where's Nicki?

Oh. In bed. I'm sorry, he couldn't stay up.

- Well, that's best. - My first painting.

- I'm officially an artist. - This calls for a drink.

What doesn't?

[laughs] Hi.

- Yuri, this is... Uh, uh... - Candy.

- Ah, Candy. Of course. - Hi.

Any friend of my brother's is a...

...is a friend of my brother's.

You have a beautiful... everything.

- Yes, he does. - Yes, I do.

- I'm gonna kiss Nicki good night. - OK. [laughs]

- How are you, brother? - Oh, you know.

Still the resident family fuck-up.

Yeah, well, I guess someone has to do it.

Yeah.

Hey...

Ava knows, right?

I never wanna say anything. I...

She doesn't have to know. She understands.

She's a survivor, like me.

Well, she may be a survivor, but she's not like you.

She doesn't know how you pay for all this?

We don't talk about it.

How many car salesmen talk about their work, huh?

How many cigarette salesmen?

Both their products kill more people every year than mine. At least mine...

...has a safety switch.

If those guys can leave their work at the office, so can I.

Goddamn, you are good.

You really are.

I mean, you almost had me convinced.

[sighs]

[softly] Could you, ah...

Could you help me out with some...?

[sighs] Why?

Why?

- Why what? - Why?

- Why? Why? - I don't know. I don't know.

- Why? - Why what?

Why are you so fucked up all the time?

Because I am. I dunno.

I didn't know how much Ava really knew and how much she ignored.

She never questioned how a guy in the transport business

could afford to give her 18-carat diamond earrings.

I guess she didn't really wanna hear the answer.

Mostly, she seemed content that I was a good provider

and, as far as she was concerned, loyal.

Despite the other women,

I always made love to Ava as if she was the only one.

I'm not saying I didn't have setbacks.

It's not called "gunrunning" for nothing.

You gotta be fast on your feet.

Some revolutions blow over before the guns even get there.

There's nothing more expensive for an arms dealer than peace.

Truce? What do you mean, "truce"? The guns are already on their way.

Peace talks.

All right. Forget it. I'll reroute the shipment to the Balkans.

When they say they're gonna have a war, they keep their word.

[sighs]

Of course, a new breed of gunrunner requires a new breed of cop.

Henry, take Park Avenue.

- [tyres screech] - [horn honking]

Take 'em on a tour of New Jersey.

[phone ringing]

Yuri, there are men going through our garbage cans.

It's probably just reporters looking for somebody else.

I have a feeling they don't work for the tabloids.

Yuri...

Ah... Is there... anything I should be worried about?

- No, nothing. - Nothing.

I love you.

I love you too.

[phone beeps off]

Sir.

I was now the best merchant of death alive.

I didn't own my own plane, I owned a fleet.

Running guns into Liberia, Sierra Leone or the Ivory Coast at least once a week.

Most trips, I had phoney paperwork.

If the deadline was tight and I had to cut corners,

I had no paperwork at all.

But I wasn't overly concerned.

There was hardly any radar over most of Africa,

and even fewer people to watch it.

[man] Charlie Echo India,

reroute to Kabala Airport on heading zero-two-nine.

- Comply immediately. - [Russian]

[phone rings]

Colonel Southern, it's Yuri.

Sorry to call, but I got Interpol all over my ass.

I can't know you right now. It's, uh... not a good time.

Not a good time?

[alarm buzzing]

Charlie Echo India, comply immediately.

- This is your last warning. - Where was the first?

- Rock your wings if you will comply. - I'm putting us down.

If you land, we're all going away. I don't have paperwork.

- We're in a flying bomb. - They're firing at our bullets.

- [pilot] I'm putting us down. - OK, OK. Fuck!

This is Charlie Echo India.

Request reroute to Kabala Airport on bearing zero-two-nine.

No, not the airport. There. The highway. It's our only hope.

Are you fucking mad? A pothole will set us off.

You underestimate yourself, Aleksei. You're the best.

You're the shit, Aleksei. You're the shit, you're the shit!

Of course Aleksei wasn't the best.

He'd come 42nd out of 43 at the Moscow Flight School.

Oh, God, what's he doing?

Is this guy nuts?

I can't land there, sir.

Kabala's only 15 minutes away, he can't get far.

I want a truck on the tarmac.

[speaks Russian]

[screaming]

[Russian]

We're gonna be OK.

[Yuri] Where are you going?

As far from the evidence as we can get!

Wait! There's not gonna be any evidence!

[chicken clucking]

Come here. Come here.

Hey, don't be shy. Here, look.

Free sample. Help yourself. Free sample. Tell your friends.

Come here. You want something? Look.

Want an RPG? All for you. All right? Happy times.

Come on, help yourselves. No charge, everything goes.

Guns, guns, guns! Yes, c'mon up!

There! Having fun now, huh?

[upbeat African music plays]

[Yuri] Come on! Guns, guns, guns. Yeah!

Bullets, guns, grenades. Hooray!

Take 'em all. Take the whole crate. Go ahead, take the crate!

- Everybody! - [excited chatter]

Guns, grenades, hooray.

Bullets, guns, grenades!

That one's got your name on it. You want one too? C'mon! I got bullets.

Don't forget the bullets. How can you shoot a gun if you don't have bullets?

Everything goes for free!

Guns, grenades, RPGs and bullets!

Guns, grenades, hooray, hooray!

Want some bullets?

Gotta have bullets.

What a cargo crew at Heathrow Airport does in a day

took a bunch of malnourished Sierra Leonean locals ten minutes.

By the time Agent Valentine got there,

you could find more guns on a plane full of Quakers.

Ah...

Yuri Orlov.

Ow, fuck!

- You run from us? - No, Mbizi, no.

Can you run with no legs?

I'll make him disappear. Around here, people disappear.

- I can't do that. - Look where we are.

Who will know?

We will.

- He's gonna get what's comin' to him. - I'm not as certain.

- [coughs] - [birdsong]

[handcuffs clicking]

- All right, get up. - [grunts]

- What's the charge? - What are you doin' in Sierra Leone?

- I'm on safari. - Yeah?

You... hunting wildebeests with a sub-machine gun?

You also work with the park service?

Hunting without a license, that the charge?

Why are we playing games? You traffic arms.

- Trade. - Trade, traffic.

You get rich by giving the poorest people on the planet

the means to continue killin' each other. You know why I do what I do?

I mean, there are more... prestigious assignments.

Keeping track of nuclear arsenals,

you'd think that more critical to world security. But it's not.

No, nine out of ten war victims today

are killed with assault rifles and small arms like yours.

Those nuclear missiles sit in their silos.

Your AK-47, that is the real weapon of mass destruction.

I don't want people dead, Agent Valentine.

I don't put a gun to anybody's head and make them shoot.

I admit, a shooting war is betterforbusiness,

but I prefer people to fire my guns and miss.

Just as long as they're firing.

Can I go now?

You've got nothing on me.

Except cuffs.

Since you're so concerned with the law,

you must know that I'm legally permitted to hold you

for 24 hours without charging you.

You might ask why I would do that.

And I can assure you, it's not because I enjoy your company, because I don't.

No, the reason why I will delay you for every second of the permissible 24 hours

is, I am delaying your deadly trade and the deaths of your victims.

I don't think of it as taking a day from you, but giving a day to them.

Some innocent man, woman or child is gonna have an extra day on this earth

because you're not free.

So, I will see you...

...in 23 hours and 55 minutes, hmm?

[cars start]

Valentine knew he didn't have to guard me.

There was nowhere to go.

Or maybe he was hoping the locals would tear me apart.

But they were too busy with the plane.

It's like parking your car in certain neighbourhoods in the Bronx.

You just don't do it.

[flute music plays]

The way I look at it, it's the way of Africa.

Maybe life.

Everything that comes from the earth eventually returns.

Even a 40-tonne Antonov-12 cargo plane.

[cicadas chirping]

A gift. For you.

You know, you've arrived just in time.

I was afraid that he might die before you got your chance...

...to kill him.

This man came here...

...hoping to take your place.

Is that not so?

No, I'm not here to supply Mr Baptiste.

I am here to supply his enemies.

I fear it's a sale I shall never complete.

He killed your blood...

...your uncle...

...when he tried to kill you.

[softly] No.

No?

[scoffs] You want that I should let him go?

- No. I... - Oh. "No, I..."

You do want him dead,

you just...

...don't want to have to do it yourself.

[cocks gun]

So...

We will do this together.

This...

...will be...

...a bonding experience.

Hmm.

You know, you can stop this any time that you want.

But I don't think that you do.

Just say the word. [scoffs]

Say...

..."stop".

[whispers] Stop.

[laughs]

Hmm.

I will get you another room, my friend.

With a much nicer view.

[reggae music playing]

[sniffs] Ah.

He ordered you brown-brown, Mr Yuri.

- What? - Brown-brown.

- What is it? - It's a mixture of cocaine...

...and gunpowder.

They give it to the young boys before they do battle. They do anything.

Uh...

Some other time.

I... suggest you try it at least once, Mr Yuri.

- Why? - Because it's... your gunpowder.

[laughs]

[Yuri] Ahhh.

Even before that night, I started doin' a lot of cocaine in West Africa.

I'd never tried brown-brown before, but then, I'd never killed a man either.

[children chattering]

[laughs, grunts] Come on!

[laughs]

[laughs manically]

[groans]

Oh, I didn't do anything, did I?

[French]

But, wait. Are you sick? SIDA?

AIDS?

Ask the white man. He will know.

Sir, will my hand grow back?

[ghostly children's voices]

- Simeon? - Remember, Yuri.

Take sides.

Simeon!

- Ow! - Don't. He's Andre's.

- Fuck Andre. - Yeah. Fuck Andre.

[click]

I'm sorry, they don't usually do that.

[click]

Well, let me look at it, maybe I can fix it.

Let me see it. It's the magazine. Give it to me.

- [cries out] - Fuck you!

[hyena growls]

[growls]

[sobs]

I started to feel I'd been cursed.

The curse of invincibility.

[sound of shooting]

Nicki, please, go to your room.

I don't believe you.

Can you prove any of this?

Mr Orlov goes to a lot of trouble to make his business look legitimate.

Even to you. Perhaps especially to you.

I don't expect we'll find anything here today.

- So what do you want? - [sighs]

I was hoping that you would help me.

[scoffs]

I understand that, uh...

...your parents died tragically?

The illegal firearms used to murder your mother and father

were procured from men exactly like your husband.

I'd like you to leave.

[softly] OK.

Gentlemen.

[door opening]

[door closing]

[Yuri] Ava?

Ava, what's wrong?

I can't wear the clothes.

Can't wear the jewellery.

Can't drive the car.

Can't live in this house.

Everything's got blood on it.

[Yuri] Blood on it?

What's the matter with you?

- Don't be so melodramatic. - Of course I'm melodramatic.

I'm a failed actress, remember?

[Yuri sighs]

I told you. These people, it's political.

They lie. They're liars.

Look at me. They lie to make themselves look good.

- You can't... You can't trust them. - It's not just them.

Don't worry. Your family didn't say anything.

They didn't have to.

I sell people the means...

...to defend themselves, Ava. That's all.

Yuri, I see the news, I see those pictures.

The guns are bigger than the boys.

[shouts] There is nothing illegal about what I do!

I don't care if it's legal!

It's wrong.

[Ava sighs]

Please, stop.

It makes no difference if I stop. Someone will take my place the next day.

So let them. We have enough.

It's not about the money.

Then what is it?

[breathes deeply] I'm good at it.

[sighs]

I feel like all I've done my whole life is be pretty.

I mean...

All I've done is be born.

I'm a failed... actress, a failed... artist.

I'm not much good as a mother.

Come to think of it, I'm not even that pretty anymore.

I have failed... at everything, Yuri.

But I won't fail as a human being.

My enemies had finally found the weapon that could hurt me.

For the next six months I stopped running guns. I went legitimate.

This is an untapped market.

I'm talking five million cubic metres of timber in the first year alone.

Over a hundred exploitable species.

The oil? Between you and me, this is the new Texas.

What do you say to 10,000 barrels a month?

He must be lying. He's talking.

...gas reserves off the Ivory Coast that OPEC doesn't know about.

The phone numbers all check out.

It's all on the level.

No wonder Valentine was confused.

[church bells tolling]

Thank God there are still legal ways to exploit developing countries.

The only problem with an honest buck is they're so hard to make.

The margins are too low. Too many people are doing it.

Still, I'd promised Ava.

[traffic noise]

Yuri, the President of Liberia's on his way up.

[exhales deeply] He's early.

- I'll be back in a minute. - OK.

What the fuck are you doing here, Andre?

Peace talks at the United Nations.

So you're dropping in on your arms dealer?

I was beginning to wonder whether that was still your profession.

You're a hard man to get a hold of all of a sudden. It is a shame.

My son and I, we were hoping to do a little shopping

while we are here in New York.

- You know they're watching you. - Yes.

I know they blame me for everything, those hypocrites.

- They're on a hunt for a witch. - "Witch-hunt".

Hostilities have escalated.

And they are making it very difficult for me to re-supply.

That requires a man...

...of your rare ingenuity.

I can't help you, I'm sorry.

I understand.

But you should know this:

due to our present situation, we are compelled...

...to be unusually generous.

So see you soon...

...Lord of War.

You still haven't brought me the gun of Rambo.

[laughs]

At four-and-a-half months old, a human foetus has a reptile's tail,

a remnant of our evolution. Maybe that's what I couldn't escape.

You can fight a lot of enemies and survive,

but if you fight your biology, you will always lose.

You guys aren't waiting to say goodbye? I'm not leaving for ten minutes.

Sorry, Nicki has swim practice.

You know, I'm kinda glad you're going.

You've been here so long you're starting to get on my nerves.

This should be wrapped up by Thursday.

I'll be back for the weekend. We'll go somewhere. The sea.

That would be fun.

- Come on. - Hey. You trust me, right?

[sighs]

She looked me in the eye the way I've looked in the eyes

of a thousand customs officials, bureaucrats and law-enforcement agents.

- Yes. I trust you. - And she lied without flinching.

- I'll see you, big guy. - Bye, Papa.

- She learned from the best. - Have a good trip.

[♪ Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah]

That's him.

[car starts]

- Where are we goin', Mama? - It's a game, honey.

- Like hide-and-seek? - Yes.

Like hide-and-seek.

I can always sense when I'm being tailed. I know what to look for,

but then, I've never been tailed by the woman I love.

I can put myself in Ava's place. She might've understood

if the combination was digits of my social security number,

or my birthday, even her birthday, but not Nicolai's.

My son's birthday unlocked what the government

would later describe as "a catalogue of carnage".

Honey, come over here.

Nicki, stay right there.

Come on, Nicki.

[passing train]

- Come to see how the other half lives? - I miss your borscht.

- Mom and Dad say you're clean. - Yeah, you too.

You went legit, huh? It's hard to believe.

That's because it's not true.

Only you know. I'm leaving tonight on a job.

I want you to come.

I can't.

I got a girlfriend, and I think she might be the one.

Plus, I'm thinking of opening my own place.

Maybe this trip'll help. It's good money.

Yuri, uh... I've given my word.

No one has to know. We'll tell them we're going for a little R and R.

[sighs]

What do you need me for, all of a sudden?

West Africa's fucked up. More than usual.

I can't trust anybody.

I need you to watch my back.

[Russian]

[sniffs]

[jazzy African music plays]

[chuckles]

Yuri.

Welcome back.

Welcome, both of you. Welcome to democracy.

Democracy? What have you been drinking?

[laughs] You have not seen the news? They accuse me of rigging elections.

But after this, with your Florida and your Supreme Court of Kangaroos,

- now, the US must shut up forever. - [Vitaly chuckles]

How do you do this, Yuri? Huh?

How do you do this when they are watching all of my airspace?

Where there's a will, there's a weapon.

C'mon, where's my fucking money?

When it is delivered.

- It is delivered. - This is not for me.

- This is for my neighbours to the west. - [Vitaly] The west?

- We're going to Sierra Leone. - Oh, yes. And my son,

Baptiste Jr, will go with you to make the proper introductions.

- We have no trucks. - You will.

As soon as we get the food out of them.

The gun of Rambo.

Mr Yuri, you're a man of your word.

- So where are we going? - [laughs] RUF.

The freedom fighters! [laughs]

Every faction in Africa calls themselves by these noble names.

Liberation this, Patriotic that,

Democratic Republic of something or other.

Yeah! [laughs] Yeah!

I guess they can't own up to what they usually are:

The Federation of Worse Oppressors Than The Last Bunch of Oppressors.

[men cheering]

Often the most barbaric atrocities occur

when both combatants proclaim themselves "freedom fighters".

Right. I've got 500 units, brand-new,

right out of the box, all as clean as this.

What have you got?

[distant music playing]

[woman calling out]

[men shouting]

[woman screams]

God! Oh, Jesus! [breathes heavily]

[gasps] Oh, Jesus. [sucks in breath]

Yuri, I need to talk to you.

- Not now. - [insistently] Now.

Excuse me.

- What? - We can't do this deal.

- The fuck we can't. What's the matter? - Look.

Look over there. As soon as we hand over the guns, those people are going to die.

It's not our business.

They killed a boy just now, as young as Nicki.

- What is the hold-up? - No hold-up. I'll be right there.

Vitaly, it's what we always know. We can't control what they do.

No. No, today we can, today we can. Yuri, they're right there!

What do you think they'll do to us if we back out? They'll kill us.

And if we go ahead, what do you think they'll do to them?

We gotta do somethin'.

[Russian]

- What is he saying? - It's the, uh, deal.

My brother's not happy with the terms, but we're working it out. It's nothing.

Right? It's nothing.

[sighs]

Nothing.

You're right, Yuri, you're right.

[exhales] God, I've got to get my shit together. Ah...

- This is not our fight. - Right.

OK, what's the deal?

300 RPGs, 500 assault rifles and 800 grenades?

I... thought it was 1200 grenades.

I was so caught up in the deal,

I never realised what was going on in Vitaly's head.

[Vitaly] I thought it was 1200 grenades. I'm confused.

Come to think about it,

maybe I never understood what was going on in his head.

I beg your pardon. May I see another stone?

One thing I do understand for certain

is that Vitaly broke the cardinal rule of gunrunning:

never pick up a gun and join the customers.

[sniffs]

What are you doin'?

Somethin' for Yuri.

Step away... slow.

Ah!

No, Vit!

[Yuri shouts] No, Vit!

[spluttering]

[gasps]

Only half the guns were gone, so I was still entitled to half the diamonds.

If I took them, I was lost. If I left them, I was lost.

The massacre played out exactly how Vitaly predicted,

but then, a half-dozen other massacres happened in Sierra Leone that week.

You can't stop them all. In my experience, you can't stop any of them.

[gunfire]

They say evil prevails when good men fail to act.

What they ought to say is, evil prevails.

[gunfire]

I now shared even more in common

with the leader of that country God seemed to have forsaken.

We saw something in each other neither one of us liked.

Or maybe we were just looking in the mirror.

[plane taking off]

I'd paid a Monrovian doctor $20 to remove the lead from Vitaly's body

and write a bogus death certificate. I should've paid more.

I've smuggled millions of rounds of ammunition,

and the bullet that lands me in jail is found under my dead brother's rib.

Yuri Orlov. We're with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Let me guess. This isn't about the alcohol or the tobacco.

- [phone ringing] - [footsteps]

[phone rings]

- Crimean Restaurant. - Papa.

Both my sons are dead.

There are only two tragedies in life:

one is not getting what you want,

- the other is getting it. - Is this one of yours?

Jack Valentine finally had what he wanted.

Curiously, the death certificate says he died of heart failure.

Falsifying a death certificate? That's not gonna hold me.

[laughs] You're right. As usual, you are right.

Have you seen today's paper?

Huh?

Fake end-user certificates, cut-out companies, meticulously catalogued.

There is hardly a warlord, dictator or despot anywhere in the world

that you're not on a first-name basis with.

It was your wife, your trophy wife,

that led us to the prize.

It's not her fault. She's just easier to follow than you are.

- May I? - Yeah. Go ahead.

[scoffs]

Enjoy it.

- What? - This.

Tell me I'm everything you despise. That I'm the personification of evil.

That I'm, what, responsible for the breakdown

of the fabric of society and world order.

I'm a one-man genocide.

Say everything you wanna say to me now.

Because you don't have long.

Are you paying attention?

Or are you delusional?

You have broken every arms embargo written.

There is enough evidence here to put you away for consecutive life sentences.

You will spend the next ten years

going from a cell to a courtroom before you even start serving your time.

I don't think you fully appreciate the seriousness of your situation.

My family has disowned me.

My wife and son have left me.

My brother's dead.

Trust me,

I fully appreciate the seriousness of my situation,

but I promise you, I won't spend a single second in a courtroom.

[scoffs] You are delusional.

I like you, Jack.

Well, maybe not. But... I understand you.

Let me tell you what's gonna happen.

This way you can... prepare yourself.

[scoffs]

OK.

Soon there'll be a knock on that door and you'll be called outside.

In the hall there'll be a man who outranks you.

First, he'll compliment you on the fine job you've done,

that you're making the world a safer place,

that you're to receive a commendation and a promotion.

Then he's gonna tell you that I am to be released.

You're gonna protest, you'll probably threaten to resign.

But in the end, I will be released.

The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted.

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.

[knock on door]

I would tell you to go to hell...

...but I think you're already there.

[Southern] A pleasure doing business with you.

Most people are happy just to get out ofjail.

I expect to be paid to leave.

I'm not a fool. I know that just because they needed me that day,

didn't mean they wouldn't make me a scapegoat the next.

But I was back, doing what I do best.

[Arabic]

[speaking Arabic]

You know who's going to inherit the earth?

Arms dealers, because everyone else is too busy killing each other.

That's the secret to survival.

- Never go to war. - [gunfire, explosions]

Especially with yourself.

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