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Reader's Review: Charlie Wilson's War
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By Kellvin Chavez on
December 07, 2007
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Trustworthy Latino Review reader "Hector the Heckler" sent us his thoughts on the upcoming Tom Hanks & Julia Robert flick "CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR" which he got to check out. The film is based on George Crile's book about the CIA's largest and most successful covert CIA operation, the arming of the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. The covert ops were engineered by Charlie Wilson (Hanks), a charismatic, wheeler-dealer, liberal Texas congressman who teamed with a rogue CIA operative (Hoffman). The two manipulated Congress, the CIA and a host of foreign governments in order to assist the Afghan rebels in their fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. Many of the men armed by the CIA went on to become the Taliban's enforcers and Osama bin Laden's protectors.
Here is what Heckler had to say, and check out the movie review section in a few days for our take on the film.
Hey guys just got out of a screening here in freezing NYC and I'm glad Mike Nichols made "Charlie Wilson's War" because his last film "Closer" really ticked me off. It was bad enough that it was about four whinny losers who kept manipulating each other, but Natalie Portman's nude scene was cut out. What the hell was up with that? If she's playing a stripper I want to see her strip. If she didn't want to be nude, she shouldn't have shot the scene. In this new film, we get plenty of nude girls galore in a Vegas hot tub with Tom Hanks himself. Hanks even shows his butt too and though he's a long way from "Forrest Gump" the man has got guts. This guy is a Congressman surrounded by naked women in a hot tub and all he can think about is what Dan Rather is wearing on his head during a "60 Minutes" broadcast. It's a little weird seeing Rather with salt and pepper hair circa 1980, but he's wearing a turban because his report involves Afghan rebels fighting Soviets on their homeland.
Hanks has a stable of hot secretaries, including Amy Adams from "Enchanted" as his assistant and when he gets back to Washington he snaps his fingers to get to CIA's special ops budget doubled. It's not enough because the Russians are really hammering the people of the Middle East. Julia Roberts is his weekend girlfriend who happens to be the sixth richest woman in Texas and can snap her fingers to get what she wants as well. Though Julia is starting to look her age, she's still pretty sexy (though her Texan accent is bad) and she dominates a scene where she's putting on her eyelashes while Hanks soaks in a bathtub after they've had sex. Sorry, they don't show that either and except for a brief slip in "Pretty Woman", when has Ms. Runaway Bride ever been nude in a film?
As a favor, she asks him to meet with the Afghan President whom she's friends with. He tells Hanks that the money the U.S. has given him to fight the Russians is barely enough. Hanks is sorry and informs the guy he'll see what he can do, but after the President suggests he take a tour of the refugee camps does he see the gravity of their situation. The Russians like to play dirty and not only were many children orphaned and parents left with dead offspring, but many of the victims are severely wounded including children with missing limbs. It looks like many of the actors playing the victims are the real deal because one little girl who was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen, had two stumps where her arms once were. Hanks not only comes home angry at the situation, but the fact that the American station chief in Afghanistan doesn't really want to fight the Russians.
The crippled Afghan army needs proper funding and they need it now. When Hanks calls the CIA into his office, they send Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a representative. Hoffman has some problems of his own as a twenty-year veteran of the agency who is considered a loose cannon. Early in the picture when he's introduced, he steals the show by threatening his boss who is nothing more than a suit with no field experience. Hoffman channels a bit of John Goodman because his fury seems to be pent up like he might have a massive coronary any minute. When he does let his anger loose, it’s pretty hysterical as in one scene where he smashes the office window of his boss just as a new one is being installed from when he did it a day earlier.
Hoffman is the right man Hanks needs to secure funds for the Afghans who are practically fighting the Russian's attack choppers with toothpicks. Hanks' role is to negotiate for the funds in the realm of politics while Roberts will use the skills she has which often include her body. All three of these actors work and match each other really well and while Hoffman almost steals any scenes he has with Hanks, his name will be the one you hear come Oscar time. That doesn't mean Hanks and Roberts don't make impressions because they do. They almost disappear into each of their roles which don't resemble anything they've done before. Though the film is a comedy, the subject of the Afghan battle against the Russians is taken seriously and with respect. No doubt much of the true story has been fictionalized, but if you know your history, the group that Hanks provides aid to would decades later become known as our current enemy, the Taliban.
Overall guys I would give this film a rating of 3 stars.
If you manage to use the review my name is Hector the Heckler
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