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 | Drama based on Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects. read more.
Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols.
Released 05 May 2008.
Universal Pictures UK. PAL.
Run Time 101 minutes. Classification  rrp £19.99. Our best price £5.00 |
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| Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history, the arming of the Afghan freedom fighters in Afghanistan. The covert operations were engineered by Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a charismatic, wheeler-dealer, liberal Texas congressman who, along with his sometimes lover (Julia Roberts), teamed with a rogue CIA operative (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). They manipulated Congress, the CIA and a host of foreign governments in order to assist the Afghan rebels in their fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, 'Charlie did it.'When the story starts out Charlie Wilson is a charismatic man with more of an interest in drinking and women than matters of politics, but his involvement with Texan socialite Joanna Herring opens his eyes to the Russian occupation in Afganistan. Charie doesn't exactly change his ways but he does become a hero of his time... read more. |
| Kashif Ahmed, 27 May 2008 |
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| Enthralling, though occasionally embellished, dramatisation of events surrounding the Pakistani-American covert resistance campaign against Russian Communist forces occupying Afghanistan, circa 1980. Legendary Hollywood director Mike Nichols ('The Graduate', 'Catch-22', 'Primary Colours') just about manages to find a suitable tone for this enjoyable, structurally complex picture, with 'Charlie Wilson's War' gravitating back & forth from an austere treatise against imperialism, to broad in-house political satire. Master screenwriter Alan Sorkin ('The West Wing', 'Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip', 'A Few Good Men') is usually at his best when he's working on an original idea, but here, Sorkin has to rely on source material; namely George Crile's snappily titled book 'Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times', which, as was the case in 'A Mighty Heart', always leaves room for error. Wilson (played with sly, smirking Southern charm by Hanks) is a maverick in every sense, an instantly likeable figure, if only because he reminds us of politicians from a bygone age; an era when spin wasn't king, and order, in spite of rampant political sleaze, prevailed through accountability. Tom Hanks puts in a fine performance as Wilson, and its great to see Hanks pull back some that edgy comic timing which served him so well in the 1980s, though I would've loved to have seen Nichols regular; Jack Nicholson in this role, as it suits him down to tee. 'Charlie Wilson's War' charts the tumultuous origins of an impressive, albeit unlikely, alliance formed to topple Soviet Communism's marauding 'empire of evil' on the front line in Afghanistan. Sold as a just war pitting Godless tyranny against Islamic-Christian values (no mention of the fact that Soviet forces, notwithstanding their unforgivable crimes against humanity, were there to back the Communist coup in Kabul): our man lobbies Washington subcommittees for cash under the puffy shoulder pads of glamorous, proselytizing Christian socialite / sixth richest woman in Texas; Joanne Herring (played with righteous conviction by Julia Roberts) a heady mix of money, power & world class machinations soon ensues, as Joanne's close friend; Pakistan's leader General Zia Ul Huq (laconic brilliance from Om Puri), Greek born CIA spy Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman in fine form) an Israeli arms dealer (Scot actor Ken Stott) and Egyptian defence minister (Iranian actor Shaun Toub of 'Crash' & 'Iron Man' fame) all play a part in reorganising and rearming the Afghani Mujahadeen. An insightful comment undercuts any hope of a long-term alliance, as Wilson wisely remarks: "sooner or later God's going to be on both sides", in response to influential, evangelical senator Doc Long's (Ned Beatty) speech to the Afghanis. For Sorkin uses this scene as a ver batem allusion to then U.S. policy maker Zbigniew Brzezinski's (who, incidentally, was one of the architects of the so-called 'war on terror') "Go and wage Jihad" speech before Muslim freedom fighters at the Afghani-Pakistan border, on the eve of 'Operation Cyclone'. A film that's serious and silly in equal measure, 'Charlie Wilson's War' boasts a razor sharp script chock full of clever, 'West Wing'-esque one-liners, delivered with vim & vigour by its cast of seasoned pros, though Nichols ought to have held back on some of the movie's more absurdist elements (e.g. the sexy, but ludicrous, belly dance sequence) and stick to the facts; for his film is at its strongest when it shows how individuals can affect real world consequences without ever changing how things work, i.e. the more things change, the more they stay the same. I think the timing of 'Charlie Wilson's War' is something to consider, for Mike Nichols has essentially made an anti-war film by proxy: the brutal policies of the Soviet military machine corresponding to modern day Anglo-American-Israeli atrocities in Iraq, Palestine and, of course, Afghanistan again. Grisly scenes with mutilated toddlers & amputees, victims of disguised Russian landmines, act as chilling mirrors held up to reflect similar tactics by present day U.S. forces in Iraq, through the use of cluster bombs dropped in the guise of food parcels. For when the camera pans out to reveal the sprawling, Afghani refugee camp in Peshawar, we're suddenly sobered up to how desperate a situation it really was, Nichols' A-camera high crane is an excellent, breathtaking shot; one of the best of the year so far, which accurately manages to convey the human tragedy of displacement. A post-victory, pre-credit title card runs Wilson's quote: "These things did happen and they were glorious, but then we f***ed up the end game", well yes & no, for in reality, and brace yourselves for a big dose of it: Imperialism's only interest in Afghanistan was, is and always has been narcotics (i.e. Heroin), for a wealth of incriminating evidence proves Washington, like 'The British Empire' before it, runs 'The Golden Triangle' drugs cartel in Asia. Hence their first move was to assassinate Pablo Escobar thus eliminating his Meddlian cartel in Columbia and taking out their main rival. They then proceeded to fund Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and factions of the 'Northern Alliance', the same group we've put back in power under criminal mastermind / alleged pederast George H.W. Bush senior's former colleague, erstwhile oilman and U.S. stooge; Hamid Karzai. This intentionally disastrous manoeuvre only served to plunge the nation into another decade of war-torn chaos (ideal conditions for imperialism to prosper). After an unexpected, unifying Taliban victory over all groups in 1995, America intensified its plans to impose agreements for the 'Enron' / 'Unocal' Caspian Sea oil pipeline; to be lain through South Asia (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) with tributaries up into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, through Iraq (which Zionist neo-cons had already planned to invade & occupy) past Jordan ending up to provide an on-tap supply of crude for Israel in its numerous wars for the spread of Zionism (i.e. Eretz Israel through the global fascist state and, as Malthusian neo-con Christian Zionists hope, Armageddon followed by a quick Rapture to Yaweh). It was only when a Taliban emissary rejected George W. Bush's bribes on a visit to his Texas ranch in 1997, that the 'New World Order' (as outlined in their mad, 1996 plan for world domination: 'Project For The New American Century') drew a bead on Afghanistan. Their minds made up for invasion a year later when the Taliban, or the "Tallies" as Peter Berg's CO kept calling them in 'Lions For Lambs', successfully cut Heroin production to its lowest level in history. Now blindly criticizing the Taliban has become almost fashionable, even amongst anti-war and progressive anti-imperialist thinkers in our hemisphere, though the Taliban Jirga was the undisputed vanguard of a legitimate, grassroots Afghani revolutionary campaign. One which took power back from the warlords, restored order and bought with it its own brand of decisive, albeit later extremist, justice that, whether our genteel sensibilities can approve it or not, stopped the 10 year, U.S. funded racquet of rape, murder, prostitution and drugs dead in its tracks within a matter of weeks. Admittedly, the Taliban theocracy hadn't refined their concepts of statecraft or continuous revolution, thereby gradually losing control of the outer regions where police brutality and irrational misogynist dogma soon replaced Islamic teaching and municipal administration. Today, Afghanistan's Heroin production, under U.S. control, has skyrocketed to the highest level in history whilst the Anglo-American-NATO occupation is stuck in the same Soviet quagmire depicted in films like '9th Company', 'Rambo III' and 'The Beast Of War'. Needless to say, 'Charlie Wilson's War' doesn't go into any of this, as it'd just put a damper on the celebratory mood, though Gust's Zen master story covers a lot of bases. 80's aficionados will notice that this isn't just a film set in the 1980s, but its an actually an 80's film; i.e. shot using techniques synonymous with the era, e.g. musical montage, shouting boss, rebellious colleagues etc, which only adds to the realism, its closest thematic cousins being 'Three Kings' and Nichols adaptation of Joseph Heller's antiwar masterpiece 'Catch-22'. I've seen this movie twice now, and it stands up in spite of the aforementioned omissions, listen out for some subtle humour such as Wilson telling Jewish arms dealer Zvi to commit to his strategy "...for the love of Christ!", introducing Avrakotos as Papadopoulos and Gust's killer line "...it's just been my experience that when people with money and too much free time get involved in politics, pretty soon, I forget who it is I'm supposed to be shooting at". Not for 'The Blackhawk Down' crowd, but a fast paced, well written, acted and directed account of an era that, in light of current events, no one could ever have predicted would someday come to be known as the good old days. |
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| Marianne Ross, 02 May 2008 |
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| This is a film to watch for good character acting as much as a good story. Tom Hanks creates quite a presence throughout the film but it’s the appearance of Phillip Seymour Hoffman that brings the film to life. Without him this would be an interesting story, but Hoffman brings humour and involvement to the film in spades.
Congressman Charlie Wilson, in the hands of Tom Hanks, is a fairly likeable character; of course he is, it’s Tom Hanks at his best with a glint in his eye. That’s not to denigrate his performance in any way; the character is huge, and Hanks is transformed in the film, he totally inhabits the character at all times. It’s one of those interesting films which has you wanting to find out more about the real life counterparts afterwards. Julia Roberts in particular really captures the look of wealthy socialite Joanne Herring.
For those of us who remember this era the first time round, it’s really quite disturbing how much of a period piece this seems! On many occasions this makes you think about how we view things now compared to these times. Entertaining and thought provoking; now that’s a must-see film in my book.
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