Charlie Wilson's War 2007
Hollywood has a tendency to misfire on political movies. Not that politics wouldn’t make good movies, but maybe not good enough for a movie. Charlie Wilson’s War gets around this by throwing in big stars like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and then sprinkling in a lot of funny lines courtesy of one of the most gifted screenwriters today, Aaron Sorkin, whose specialty just happens to be politics. So instead of something unrealistic involving outsized conspiracies like Mike Nichols’ previous political movie Wag the Dog you get this film about something fairly small (America’s covert support of the mujahadeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets) orchestrated by a talented, idealistic, but careless no-name Texas democrat.
They still had to have taken tons of liberties with the facts. In reality this was probably Charlie Wilson’s war like Al Gore invented the internet. Wilson supported increasing the funding, but there is no question the Reagan adminstration had to make all of this happen. Still, the essentials of the movie ring true as Wilson makes deals, fights off the media, and brings enemies together to get weapons in the hands of the suffering Afghans to overthrow the Russian occupation.
The movie is surprisingly funny and smart, like the best of Sorkin’s work on West Wing. Hanks does a great job playing Wilson, an unlikely hero whose drinking and womanizing are at war with his desire to do the right thing. Philip Seymour Hofman turns in another great peformance as wise-ass loose cannon intelligence analyst at the CIA. Enchanted’s Amy Adams has a small part whose primary purpose is to give Hanks a reason to think out loud. Julia Roberts’ character is strong, but I think they should have chosen an older actress instead of making the still radiant Roberts look 10-20 years older. Great writing, solid plot, and very good acting. I have to give this an A.
Written: 30 Dec 2007
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital