CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
Director: Mike Nichols Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty, Emily Blunt, Peter Gerity, Jud Tyler, John Slattery, Om Puri, Ken Stott, Christopher Denham
Reviewed by GREG KING
In 1980 the Russian army invaded neighbouring Afghanistan. While the rest of the world nervously watched events unfold, it seems that the biggest political statement from the powerful Americans was to merely boycott the Moscow Olympics. But after seeing news reports from Afghanistan, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a glib but powerful Texas Congressman sitting on a couple of important committees, was moved into action.
Encouraged by certain concerned parties he used his understanding of Congressional politics to help steer money from the Intelligence budget into arming and training the Afghans to stand up to the Soviet might. In doing so he changed the geopolitical structure of the world at the time. His actions in waging a covert, multi-billion dollar war helped bring about the defeat of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and, ultimately, the rise in fanatical Islam. The film makes clear though, that in helping the Afghans comprehensively defeat and drive out the Russians, the Americans then sowed the seeds for the rise of the Taliban and much of the anti-Western sentiment prevalent in the region. They spent billions of dollars in arming the rebels Afghans, then baulked at spending another million dollars to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.
Wilson is helped in his endeavours by Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), the sixth richest woman in Texas, a politically involved socialite, and campaign contributor. Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a gruff renegade and unorthodox CIA agent who comes across as a bull in a china shop, also provided important political analysis and technical support. While Charlie Wilson’s War is based on a true story, a number of facts and characters have been rearranged to make for a far more engaging and entertaining black comedy and occasionally breezy romp that will have broader appeal.
Written by playwright Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, A Few Good Men, etc), the script bristles with insight into the machinations of American politics and crackles with plenty of black humour and pithy one liners. The cynical landscape of American politics is familiar territory for veteran director Mike Nichols (Primary Colours, etc), whose films have also managed to tap into the consciousness of the American people and the time. He suffuses the wry humour with a touch of knowing regret for the aftermath of Wilson’s actions.
The central performances are all fine. Hanks brings his essential decency and charm to his role as Wilson. A hedonistic, but earnest and patriotic Congressman, he has major character flaws that should make him unlikeable, but Hanks brings an endearing warmth to his performance. Although Roberts is given little to do in her underwritten role, she does it with class. But it is Oscar winner Hoffman who essentially steals the show with his scenery chewing performance as the tactless Avrakotos.
***1/2
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
It is difficult to know what to make of Charlie Wilson’s War. For the Golden Globe awards, it was listed under comedies. While there is some verbal repartee, it is not exactly an overall comedy. In its picture of a ‘good-time Charlie’ congressman who gets himself involved in the Afghan struggle of the 1980s against the Russians, it presents as a kind of hero or anti-hero a man who did deals for upping the budget appropriations for covert operations to defeat the Russians. Admirable? Despicable? Hero? Patriot? American who acted self-confidently according to the national doctrine of ‘manifest destiny’, guilty of a huge presumption?
Tom Hanks has developed a screen personal of the upright American, so it is more than a bit disturbing to see him snorting cocaine in a jacuzzi full of strippers and receiving the highest award from the organisation of covert agencies. Julia Roberts can act Brockovich-tough, but who is this wealthy Houston woman who takes up an interest in the Afghans and pressures legislators and donors behind the scenes, declares she is a born-again Christian but whose behaviour gives born again a double standards name? These are very ambiguous characters, of ambiguous moral stances, who are seen as the true anti-communist patriots – which may justify everything.
So, this means that Mike Nichols’ film is quite unsettling. And, with Philip Seymour Hoffman giving another of his outstandingly different performances as a disgruntled CIA operative who finds a cause worth manipulating for in Afghanistan, it is even more unsettling.
Clearly, we are meant to be thinking about American policy in both Iraq and Afghanistan post-September 11th, and that makes the film more disturbing. What is going on now? Covert and overt? We have seen Redacted, Rendition, In The Valley Of Elah and, especially about Afghanistan, Lions For Lambs.
At the end, the CIA agent warns that with the retreat of the Russians in 1988 after the American-supplied arms brought down so many Russian planes and helicopters and destroyed so much artillery, that mad crowds were coming into Kabul. Charlie Wilson suggests a modest appropriation for building schools in Afghanistan but the DC powers that be have lost interest in the country and in the people. And, so, enter the Taliban.
I hope Charlie Wilson’s War is not passed over as an American comedy. Its themes are far too deadly for that.
Reviewed by MARCUS SINCLAIR
Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War demonstrates a good old fashioned craftsmanship that is rarely seen in the cinema today where the emphasis is on short shots, fast editing, amazing computer generated imagery, and stunning, but over-the- top action sequences, all with the minimum of dialogue. Here time is taken with establishing shots to place the characters in various settings that appear as real places (as some actually are).
The script is quite literate, the dialogue snappy, and the cast is top drawer. Tom Hanks plays a Texan congressman who is a wheeler-dealer - a man who enjoys the "good" life with the minimum of effort; Julia Roberts is a wealthy socialite, a religious manipulator and "good" friend of our hero; and there's Philip Seymour Hoffman (who was Capote), a crusty CIA agent who is having trouble with his superior officer and surviving within the system. Each player brings his/her character to life and gives a credibility that makes for both fascination and disgust as the political system in which they operate is manipulated for all its worth to get the desired results.
Based on a true story concerning America's involvement in Afghanistan with the guerrillas fighting the Russians, the film is a scathing look at politics at home and of the US foreign policy abroad - how it is carried out and why; and how the situation is dealt with when the goal is achieved. There is humour, together with much food for thought. Running for a fraction over ninety minutes Charlie Wilson's War grips to the end. It will also be a contender for the year's best list.