I just finished watching this wonderful movie called The Lord of War. I want to talk about one aspect which I found fascinating about the movie..the whole idea of leaving work at office.
Before we get going, lets look at some statistics quoted in the movie about small arms trade around the world:
a) 600 million small arms around the world out of which 250 million are in US, 84 million in Europe and around 30 million in Africa
b) Arms produced in 90 countries around the world in 1200 factories
c) Small arms trade is worth 4 billion dollars on the legal side and 1 billion on the illegal side annually.
In one particular scene, Nicholas Cage has just had the brown powder: a combination of cocaine and gun powder, generally given to child soldiers before they go to war to immunize them against what they will do. Cage is delirious after a couple of big sniffs and finds a child in front of her who has nothing below the elbow. She says to her friend" There is a white man, he would know" and comes up to Cage to ask her when would her hand grow back.
This movie is almost a documentary but has its moments...moments where you begin to question what a business should be and what should be the objectives of it. And more importantly, for how long can you keep your professional and personal life separate in businesses like arms dealing. You can think of a lot of other businesses which would qualify in the same category though with moderate levels of monstrosity. The dynamics of this business are such that everytime there is a truce amongst warring factions, your business goes down!!
In the end, Cage loses his family, his brother gets killed in Sierra Leone and his trophy wife leaves him with their son.The movie ends with a beautiful line where Nicholas Cage has just survived another brush with the authorities :
"You know who is going to inherit the world? Arms Dealers. ..because everyone else is so busy killing each other. Thats the secret of survival: Never go to war, especially with yourself."
In one particular scene, Nicholas Cage has just had the brown powder: a combination of cocaine and gun powder, generally given to child soldiers before they go to war to immunize them against what they will do. Cage is delirious after a couple of big sniffs and finds a child in front of her who has nothing below the elbow. She says to her friend" There is a white man, he would know" and comes up to Cage to ask her when would her hand grow back.
This movie is almost a documentary but has its moments...moments where you begin to question what a business should be and what should be the objectives of it. And more importantly, for how long can you keep your professional and personal life separate in businesses like arms dealing. You can think of a lot of other businesses which would qualify in the same category though with moderate levels of monstrosity. The dynamics of this business are such that everytime there is a truce amongst warring factions, your business goes down!!
In the end, Cage loses his family, his brother gets killed in Sierra Leone and his trophy wife leaves him with their son.The movie ends with a beautiful line where Nicholas Cage has just survived another brush with the authorities :
"You know who is going to inherit the world? Arms Dealers. ..because everyone else is so busy killing each other. Thats the secret of survival: Never go to war, especially with yourself."
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