Review: 'Charlie Wilson’s War' takes subtle road to political points

Directed by: Mike Nichols

Starring: Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julia Roberts

Rated: R

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is always exciting for movie lovers. Besides the inevitable big-budget schlock, there are a lot of “smaller” films released in order to officially qualify for the Oscars, and some of the better movies from earlier in the year are finally entering the home video market to cash in on the Christmas rush.

In just more than a month, I’ve seen (or watched again on DVD) five of the best films of 2007, including “No Country for Old Men,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “Waitress” and “Ratatouille.”

The latest, now in theaters, is Mike Nichols’ political masterpiece, “Charlie Wilson’s War.”

Nichols is no stranger to social and political commentary – he directed “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “The Graduate,” “Carnal Knowledge,” “Primary Colors,” and he took on the nearly impossible task of making a coherent film of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” (in my opinion, the best novel of the 20th century).

“Charlie Wilson’s War” can be considered a companion piece to “Catch-22,” and while not as rich and broad as that work, it is based on a true story. Even though it is very (darkly, at times) humorous, “Charlie Wilson’s War” provides some serious fodder for thought.

Nichols worked from a script by veteran screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, based on the book by George Crile and based on the political and social life of one Charlie Wilson.

Tom Hanks – possibly the most affable actor since Jimmy Stewart – plays Wilson, a woman-and-whiskey-loving U.S. congressman from Texas. The film starts in 1980, and Wilson is refreshingly different from the people in office these days. His entire staff, as noted by a wealthy constituent who has come for a meeting, is composed of great-looking women wearing great-looking outfits. Wilson’s front desk girl explains, “Like Charlie says, ‘You can teach ‘em to type, but you can’t teach ‘em to grow (breasts).’”

Wilson’s not a typical womanizer, and all of the females on his staff are as smart as they are buxom. They all seem to genuinely love and respect him. His “Girl Friday” is Bonnie, played by Amy Adams (“Junebug”), an actress to keep an eye on. She holds her own with Hanks and everyone else in the cast.

When appointed to the ethics committee, Wilson quips, “I told the chairman, ‘Everybody knows I’m on the other side of that issue.’”

In 1980, the Soviet Union (this was before the collapse, remember) was waging a war in Afghanistan and Wilson, a liberal Democrat, is contacted by a wealthy, sexy and available Houston socialite, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts). Herring is ultra-conservative and obsessed with defeating the Russians in Afghanistan. She and Wilson are an unlikely pair in many ways, but the duo manages to have an affair.

Herring arranges a meeting for Wilson with the president of Pakistan, the country that is being overrun with refugees from the war. After seeing the devastation of the refugee camps, he is compelled to do what he can to fund the Afghanis.

As a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Wilson manages to get funding raised from $5 million to $1 billion – and to keep it all fairly covert.

Aiding him in this is the rather disgruntled CIA operative, Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Together, and with the intervention of Herring, they arrange for Pakistan and Israel to enter in a most unlikely alliance.

Wilson’s life has a few other distractions during this time, not the least being testimony from a Las Vegas stripper who claims she witnessed the congressman snort cocaine while lounging with her and several other girls, naked in a hot tub. The allegations are true, of course, and become nightly news headlines.

The film has a lot of dark humor, but in the third act, Nichols begins to make some serious points. His style is not the in-your-face approach that Michael Moore uses, and some critics feel the serious message in “Charlie Wilson’s War” may be lost on the general public. But I think not.

Wilson’s efforts succeeded, and the Russians left Afghanistan. The Berlin Wall fell. The USSR disbanded. That was all well and good, but the powers that be simply abandoned what they had started in Afghanistan. Wilson couldn’t even get a mere $1 million to help build schools there. Congress was simply glad we had beaten the Russians.

What came out of the situation was the rise of the Taliban, and the rest is (current) history. Forget personal politics and look at the real picture. There are many other examples of this kind of political misguided thinking still bearing fruit today, from Panama to Iraq.

I think Nichols has wisely chosen to take the more-subtle road here, but the points made in the film are not diminished.

Of note, there’s a two-hour documentary on The History Channel that tells the “true” story and features interviews with Wilson, Herring and many others involved. It’s a great companion piece to a great movie.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]