Charlie Wilson's War
I was confused by this film. It has Tom Hanks in it, and Aaron Sorkin was a writer for it- so HOW did this become a film so pro-Afghani and really pro war? People who are so against supporting the people of Iraq in their recovery from Saddam Hussein- well, how can they be so sympathetic to the Afghani's of the 1980s and not the Kurds? Julia Roberts plays Joanne Johnson King Herring Davis, a Houston socialite whose second marriage to Robert Herring (oilman) got her an in to be the honorary consul to Morocco and Pakistan. Her cause became the freedom of the Afghani's from the Russian marauders who were maiming and killing the Afghanis at warp speed, while the Afghani's had no real means to defend themselves. Charlie Wilson is a dissolute softy who would be sued right and left for sexual harassment by his employees if he pulled all that stuff today. But his ability to get along in Congress serves him well when the time comes for him to get a billion dollars thrown into the cause. It is oddly uplifting to see Wilson succeed. And since everyone around him knows what he is (because he hides behind nothing), he winds up being a likeable guy. Observe Roberts' plastic surgery- that is one tight eye job. Hanks looks his usual affable self. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays an unlikely CIA agent. And Amy Adams does a great job of being a competent assistant to Charlie- without being his bimbo. Which was probably hard to do. This movie hasn't gotten enough good press. There is plenty of nudity- so though there is a great message here, it isn't for youngsters.