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Title: Charlie Wilson’s War
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/ | CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents will want to preview this before letting kids watch it. There is strong language, strong sexual comments, nudity, and violence. Recommended for ages 17 and up. |
I’m going to get something out of the way before we begin this review: This is not an Oscar worthy movie. I bring this up now because all of the early publicity surrounding this film is that of a potential Oscar winning film, just because it stars a lot of Oscar winning talent behind it. Though having actors such as Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymor Hoffman, plus the inclusion of film composer James Newton Howard and famed director Mike Nichols may suggest an epic in every sense, “Charlie Wilson’s War” is mainly a very funny movie about a somber time in the world. I know most historians frown upon movies like this. If you’re going to make a movie about a great event in US history you better do with a straight face.
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While this seems like a logical argument, the fact of the matter is that Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was not a serious man. The movie opens with his in a hot tub full of naked, cocain snorting strippers, drinking whiskey like it was going the way of New Coke. Later on a conversation with the leader of Afghanistan leads to an embarressing moment where Wilson asks for a shot of whiskey, only to be informed that no serious political leader would dare ask such a thing from royalty. Okay, so Charlie Wilson may not have been a great negotiator. That said, when motivated he was very persuavsive in his arguments. As one man points out, “you don’t promise what you can’t deliver.”
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After witnessing the horrors of the Soviet Union, Wilson, along with CIA Operative Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), as well as Christian fundraiser Joanne Herring (Roberts), these three people played a huge role in destroying the Soviet Union and ending the Cold War. Yeah, Regan got all the credit, but that’s politics for you. While this may be the fifth or sixth movie about political turmoil in Afghanistan, this is the first one to be good. I think the main reason for this movie standing above the rest of the political movies is that it’s had several years to meditate on the situation at hand. These events folded years ago. And while these events did lead to the eventual creation of the Taliban, I find it refreshing to see a situation unmoved by which party was doing wrong in the situation, and shedding light that problems are normally resolved when people of different corners of the world work together.
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The movie also makes a very wise observation that the current situation is upon us not because we gave forgeiners weapons, but because we didn’t prepare the future generation with the proper resources to guide their future. Once the war is over congress has spent about $1 billion dollars to free the world. Wilson asks for $1 million to restore the schools and educate the children, a sum that congress not only balks at, but confuses the country with Pakistan. The failer that, while not solely responsible, contributed to the creation of the Taliban. Wilson closes the movie by claiming that America did a great job of liberating the country, but then they “f&$ked up the end game.” While the movie has many great laughs at Wilson’s unlikely behaiver (that had me write a note in my notebook that simply read “what a schmuck this prick is”), as well as the feverish planning to raise funds to save everyone, the most hilarious statement this movie makes is how America is willing to spend billions on fighting, but they can’t spend pennies on improving the quality of life. That, I think, may be America’s biggest tragedy.
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