Charlie Wilson's War is based on the true story of a Texas congressman who in the 1980s personally managed to increase US funding of Afghanistan militias to fight the Soviets to almost $1 billion. Wilson was a womanizer who drank a lot and possibly did cocaine. He was also apparently charming, so it's natural that Tom Hanks play him. Julia Roberts plays Joanne Herring, a Texas socialite who encouraged Wilson because she hated "the commies". Philip Seymour Hoffman is CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, who didn't get along with his bosses and finds himself with an annoying assignment to help a minor congressman that turns into a full scale covert operation.
For a script by Aaron Sorkin, it takes a surprisingly light hearted approach to the story. It's not nearly as dense as a West Wing episode. There are some complications in how the arms are laundered through other countries but it's more about how Wilson charms his way into those deals after Gust explains what has to happen to him. There is a scene in a refuge camp where Charlie meets a young girl who had her arms blown off by a land mine that's meant to quickly explain his motivation. I found it oddly unmoving. It could have been the upbeat native music in the background or that it was the only scene in the film showing Charlie really caring about someone else.
Herring is merely a caricature. Some timeframes are unclear and I still don't know if she was cheating on her husband or already divorced. Gust is the one that steals the show. Hoffman is of course wonderful but he also gets all the good scenes. We first see him breaking his boss' window. The scene where he meets Charlie is just a riot. Other scenes are contrived to be humorous. Rather than give Charlie a report, Gust brings him to a park to meet an analyst who can't be pulled from his 4 simultaneous chess games before he says he wrote a report.
The cold war mentality is a little hard to adjust to, particularly with the current relevance of how mujahideen got weapons and funding. Gust has a Zen story saying only time will tell if what they did was good and Charlie tries to get Congress to follow through on the end game but fails. The minor references to things we already know feel tacked on to a story that's merely trying to be fun. And it is fun, in fact the whole group I saw it with commented on how they enjoyed more than they were expecting to. Tom and Julia are likable and Hoffman's scenes are worth the price of admission.
The Washington Post has an article on the real Charlie Wilson and some liberties the film took.
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