You'd
be forgiven for not having heard the story of Charlie Wilson
and his involvement in driving the Russians out of Afghanistan
– I certainly hadn't before seeing this film. Having seen
it, if the true story is half as colourful as it's portrayed
in Mike Nichols' excellent Charlie Wilson's War, then
it bears serious attention.
Nichols is something of a maverick in Hollywood, his choices
reflecting a sharp intellect and a willingness to dig below
the surface. When you recall that he directed films like Catch-22;
Silkwood and Primary Colors, it's perhaps
not surprising that he brings those qualities to bear here.
It would have been easy to fall into the trap of wallowing in
triumphalism; but Nichols – aided by screenwriter Aaron
Sorkin, adapting George Crile's book of the same title –
burrows into the reasons not just for America's involvement
and ultimate victory in Afghanistan, but also into its failure
to follow up on its gains. It doesn't take a lot of general
knowledge to see where that particular failing led.
It's the early 1980s, and Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a US
congressman. He's a bit of an enigma on Capitol Hill –
he's a boozing womaniser whose main political skill is keeping
his indiscretions quiet so that his undemanding constituents
will keep electing him. In that endeavour, he owes no little
thanks to his astute aide Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams). He also happens
to control a key committee charged with funding US covert operations
around the world. One of Charlie's key political connections
however is Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), the third-wealthiest
woman in Texas and a religious zealot of sorts. Her latest crusade
is to drive the godless Soviets out of Afghanistan – and
she wants Charlie's help to do it. At Joanne's urging, Charlie
visits Pakistan and the border region to see the plight of Afghan
refugees. Moved by what he sees, he returns to the US to begin
a campaign against the Russians. He seeks out the CIA's Afghanistan
desk, to find it consists essentially of one person –
burned out agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
While this film has plenty going for it, its key ingredient
is the character of Charlie himself. He's a sly political animal;
a man willing to say one thing and do quite another when it
suits him. He's hardly a paragon of virtue; but by the same
token, doesn't demand that of others. While his pursuit of an
undercover war against the Soviets seems motivated by considerable
self-interest at first, by the end of the film, he has genuinely
been converted to the cause.
Nichols,
who rarely makes a bad film, keeps the action moving along.
This isn't one of the dry, talky movies where everything happens
within the hushed corridors of power. Nichols goes out into
the “field” (actually Morocco) to recreate the war
effort by Afghan tribesmen against Soviet helicopter gunships.
Some of the action sequences are quite amazing. He also recognises
that economy is a virtue, keeping the running time down to a
very manageable 97 minutes.
The pairing of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts might conjure thoughts
of a schmaltzy romance; but nothing could be further from the
truth. While the pair have some key scenes together, any notions
of romance (at least on her part) are soon killed off. Hanks
does a bang-up job as the raconteur lawmaker, in a role that's
quite a departure for him from his usual roles. Roberts is all
Southern grace and duplicity as the scheming Herring. Amy Adams
continues her rise as an actress with another fine turn as Bach;
but the movie really belongs to Philip Seymour Hoffman as the
put-upon Avrakotos. Not only does he get most of the best jokes,
he also provides a real driving impetus for the film.
Charlie Wilson's War is another astute, well-constructed
film from Mike Nichols. It's great strength isn't the history
lesson it provides, but its good sense to not sugar-coat any
aspect of the story.
