He
was the world’s best known arms dealer, who shot more selfie footage of himself
in the wrong places at the wrong times than a punky skateboarding graffiti
vandal. That was not the best strategy for minimizing circumstantial evidence,
but it left a wealth of primary source material for Tony Gerber & Maxim
Pozdorovkin’s documentary, The Notorious
Mr. Bout,
which
screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Viktor
Bout could be the model of the self-made oligarch in the age of Putin. It has
been established that Bout served in the Soviet military in some capacity, but
the exact details remain murky. Thought to have been active in Angolan
operations, Bout set up shop after his early 1990’s discharge, focusing his “shipping”
business in failed African states like the Central African Republic and ambiguously
regulated fiefdoms throughout the Middle East.
Eventually dubbed “The Merchant of Death” by the media, Bout inspired
the Nic Cage film Lord of War,
guaranteeing him bad karma for his next life.
When
Notorious follows Bout’s trail from
one global hotspot to another, it is absolutely fascinating stuff. However, the film sort of suffers from an odd
split personality disorder. The first half meticulously pieces together the
shady elements of his business, including his attempts to cultivate Congolese
warlord turned politician Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is now facing war crime
charges in The Hague. Yet, the third act largely paints him as a victim of a DEA
entrapment. Frankly, that is a much more compelling argument in sex or drug
cases that target human frailty than conspiring to sell arms to the Colombian
FARC terrorists.
