Recent gangster-ish film: Lord of War

I recently watched Lord of War, which seemed pretty similar to a lot of the gangster films we have been discussing and watching so far. Lord of War is about an immigrant, Yuri Orlov who started off working for his parents at a restaurant. He wanted to succeed and make it big, so he went into the gun business and sells guns to gangsters, drug lords, and eventually militaries and governments. All this time, he is being chased by the only seemingly likable guy in the movie, an American Interpol agent.
Since the audience gets to go inside Yuri's head and see how confused and distraught he is about his own business and actions, we don't hate him as much. However, what he is doing is actually evil because he's supplying the means for people to kill.
I don't want to spoil the ending but it's definitely different from the gangster movies made during the production code era. Although Yuri isn't completely happy with his life, he isn't punished like the gangsters in Scarface and Black Legion. I know the point of the movie is mostly to spread awareness on these wars and massacres, but they do so in a way to humanize the people involved. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing because they shouldn't be pitied or understood by the audience.