Charlie Wilson's War Review

by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)
January 5th, 2008
Good Time "Charlie"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2008

There's something so laid back to Tom Hanks and
the characters that he plays that he even makes
negotiating the halls of Congress seem easy. In
"Charlie Wilson's War", he plays the real-life
Congressman of the same name of a small Texas
district of little consequence. But, he uses his
grace and authenticity to engineer one of the
most incredible military victories of the Reagan
era. And yet no one has probably heard of
Charlie Wilson.

Just knowing the basics about what Charlie Wilson
did doesn't seem like compelling movie material.
Looking at his bio at the Wikipedia website, we
see that Wilson is not the face of politics, but
does keep his ear to the ground when there are
overseen opportunities to bolster America. For
example, in the 1970s, he spearheaded a covert
effort to support a controversial opposition
leader of a more-ruthless Central American
government. This character trait isn't explored
much in the film. And, when we first meet
Wilson, we see him as a man of low-key humor who
immensely enjoys his Congressional perks. One
such perk was his ability to hire whomever he
felt like for his office. And, they were always
beautiful and young women whom Wilson would
sometimes refer to lovingly as "jailbait".
During that period, he's known as playful.
Today, he might be considered womanizing.

Charlie's fame stemmed, in part, from the request
of a wealthy Texas socialite named Joanne Herring
(Julia Roberts). It's 1979, and the Soviets have
recently invaded Afghanistan. Refugees are
pouring into its neighboring country, Pakistan.
Joanne is an honorary consul to Pakistan and an
immense pro-Pakistani activist (if you go to
joanneherring.com, you can see a picture of her
with the then-president of that country). She
seeks Wilson's help. Despite his tendency to
enjoy drink and women too much, he is very sharp
and also has developed powerful alliances within
the political arena. Sitting at the intersection
of the CIA and various appropriation committees,
he has the ability to covertly finance this
operation. The goal would be to stealthfully
provide aid to the Afghan Mujahideen resistance
fighters with the weaponry and firepower and
training needed to repel the communist invaders
without Russia ever knowing how the Afghan's did
it.

Despite how sterile this might all sound, the
film is actually one of the best pieces of
entertainment you'll find this year. Tom Hanks
brings his charm and his everyman demeanor that
makes us grateful that there are people like him
who can get things done in places like DC. And,
also great is Phillip Seymour Hoffman who plays
CIA field officer Gust Avrakotos, who despises
the Russians, hates the bureaucratic machine, but
takes a liking to Wilson's get-it-done demeanor.
The film strips away all of the backroom
politics, negotiating, and paperwork, and just
dives right into the highlights. Wilson
efficiently executes his plans, and the pieces
all seem to fall in place.

Granted, it probably wasn't that easy. And, I
wished that there was a little more focus on
Wilson the man instead of Wilson the political
juggler. I also wondered what Russia's response
was after they pulled out and after they figured
out the US's involvement. Those are just small
quarrels given how entertaining and fluid
"Charlie Wilson's War" is. On "60 Minutes," when
Pakistani dictator Zia ul-Haq was asked how the
Afghan war was won, he simply said, "Charlie did
it." And Charlie certainly did.

Grade: A-

S: 2 out of 3
L: 3 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3

    ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

More on 'Charlie Wilson's War'...

---

Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.