CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
A Little Wine, A Lot Of Women, and One Big War
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Charlie Wilson's War"
By Omar P.L. Moore/December 21, 2007
Tom Hanks as U.S. congressman Charlie Wilson and Julia Roberts as Joanne
Herring, with Amy Adams as Bonnie Bach in the background, in "Charlie Wilson's
War", directed by Mike Nichols. The film opened today across North
America. (Photo: Francois Duhamel/Universal Pictures)
Mike Nichols directs a sublime blend of comedy, satire,
political drama, documentary and great performances in "Charlie Wilson's War",
based on the true story of U.S. congressman Charles Wilson from East Texas, who
almost single-handedly engineered a covert operation in Afghanistan to help that
country defeat the Soviet Union in a nearly decade-long war during the 1980's
(he had a little help from his friends.) Tom Hanks engineers a witty
portraiture of the womanizing, drug-tasting and drink-loving politician, who
surrounds himself in his office with what can best be described as Charlie's
Angels - a quartet of secretaries provocatively dressed to tease, please and
make the men who visit Mr. Wilson fall to their knees - perhaps a bargaining
chip for the congressman when doing the necessary arm-twisting to gain support
for measures he helped introduce or sponsor in Congress. Wilson calls one
of the Angels -- who are 20-somethings -- jailbait. They all flock to him,
and he gravitates to them. One assistant, a fresh-faced executive Bonnie
Bach (a terrific Amy Adams), may be in training for an Angel position -- or has
already graduated to a more dignified, if less showy, existence.
The point is that women -- the fairer, more beautiful sex -- bolster and fortify Charlie Wilson, and one non-Angel is the key to geopolitical games in Afghanistan, a Houston heiress and power-player Joanne Herring (deftly acted by Julia Roberts) is the brash, bold and unsparing tactician who has the powers of persuasion to tie the loose ends and strings together, arranging meetings with heads of state around the globe but in this story especially in Pakistan. Nichols has directed Ms. Roberts before (in "Closer") and on this occasion gives her a more flamboyant canvas. The writing by Aaron Sorkin who devised television's "West Wing" gives us a very good sense of Herring before we even see her. Roberts allows her an entrance into the film that you can feel, for Herring is definitely a strong personality.
One other piece of the covert equation in Afghanistan is Gust Avrakotos, the CIA operative who brings the technical know-how to the operation. He has been given short-shrift by the "suits" who seem to have forgotten that he has given a quarter-century to his position. Gust has a very conclusive way of demonstrating his displeasure and he waste no time expressing his feelings. As played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, he is the most colorful of a trio of colorful characters, and the one who has us most in stitches. In a year where Mr. Hoffman played two lonely misanthropes ("Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" and "The Savages") and very well, one might add, he goes the other way here, smoothly exhibiting an extroverted behavior that while gruff, abrupt and caustic, is adorably funny.
Overall, "Charlie Wilson's War" works almost to perfection, with a script that sets up the characters of importance without delving extremely deeply into each, then weaves those characters into their active work modes, and then finally explores the main story of the Soviet-Afghan conflict without becoming a full-fledged documentary. Nichols and Sorkin are well-matched and the film is consistently-entertaining as well as thought-provoking. The audience always knows what's happening, and while the politic-speak may throw a few off, it is far from a challenge to understand what is being said. "Charlie Wilson's War" is one of the few rare political entertainments in 2007, a film that adults can laugh along with, without having to spend time deeply thinking about the issues of a war that took place over 20 years ago -- only of course, as the more-politically inclined viewer inevitably thinks about Iraq 2008. One with the inclination to insert the names Dick and Cheney into the film's title to do a story about this present conflict may well have come up for a lot of grief, as any studio -- including the one that distributes this film (Universal) -- would probably have asked for a name change.
While war is anything but funny, "Charlie Wilson's War" is hilariously good.
"Charlie Wilson's War" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use. The film's duration is one hour and 37 minutes.
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