Charlie Wilson's War

"You can teach 'em to type, but you can't teach 'em to grow tits." - Charlie Wilson

Charlie Wilson's War was a wonderful movie. It's a fascinating story, one that were it not based on a true story would be laughed it for it's implausibility. But it is this fantastic element that makes it so interesting. How is it that a little known congressman from Texas, a man who admits that his main goals are drinking whiskey and chasing women, a man known as 'good time Charlie' who is under investigation for snorting cocaine with strippers in a Vegas hotel room, a man of whom it is said that his greatest achievement in his 6 terms in congress was getting re-elected 5 times, was able to almost single handedly raise the funds, arrange for the weapons purchase, and train Afghan's who didn't know anything about fighting to repel the Soviet troops is really astonishing.

Knowing Hollywood, I really expected the producers to turn this story into a political statement. I am pleased to say that the told the story straight and restrained from any moralizing. No allusions made to the current war in Iraq. Nothing about either political party claiming the moral high ground. In fact it was just the opposite. It was more about people from very different backgrounds working together to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Tom Hanks turned in his usual quality performance, and Julia Roberts was acceptable, if a little bit on the creepy side. But Philip Seymour Hoffman really stole the show. I think that more than any other current actor, he really embodies his roles and truly becomes his character. He may be the best actor of his generation. And for a man so ugly to make a name for himself in an industry so obsessed with physical appearance, that is quite a feat.

I don't know much about the actual events, so I don't know what liberties were taken with the script. Apart from feeling like large chunks of the story were left out, it did feel authentic. Most of the story was spent on the build up to the arming and training of the Afghan troops, and then the film seemed to rush through the following events. I assume this was done for pacing and because that is really the more interesting part of the story. Still, I would have liked to have seen a little more of that.

I really was impressed with this movie. It walked the fine line between entertainment and documentation. It really could have erred either way, but there was enough humor to keep it from being dry and boring, but not so much as to make light of the subject matter. I went in with fairly high expectations and still came away impressed. And for that, I give this movie an amazing 9 units of cinematic goodness out of a possible 10.