Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) is about a Texas congressman who raised covert American aid to the Afghan mujahideen from a few million dollars to hundreds of millions. Charlie Wilson is a drinker nobody takes seriously, drifting between committees, and that is exactly why nobody watches what he is doing. It is a true story. The source is George Crile III's book and Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay; the fast overlapping dialogue is his signature. Mike Nichols directed. It was his last film. Tom Hanks plays Wilson, Julia Roberts a Texas donor, and Philip Seymour Hoffman the CIA officer Gust Avrakotos. Hoffman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and the best scenes in the film are his. The most contested thing about it is the ending. Wilson cannot find money to rebuild the region afterwards, and the film stops there. What happened in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, and where those weapons went, is barely raised, and most of the criticism was aimed at that silence. It runs 102 minutes. Good for: political comedy, Cold War history, and Sorkin dialogue. Less good for: the film keeps its tone light and that tone sits badly against the weight of the subject. There are almost no Afghan characters. Wilson himself is drawn far too fondly.