So the girlfriend and I went down to see Charlie Wilson's War last night on its opening night here in Kingston.
As a backgrounder, Charlie Wilson was the pretty much no-name congressman from Texas who first took an interest in the exploits of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the soviets. He also happened to be on the right committees to get something done about it, and spearheaded the drastic increase in U.S. aid to the resistance, ultimately ousting the Soviets from Afghanistan.
Tom Hanks did a brilliant job playing the hard drinking, womanizing Charlie Wilson, about as enjoyable a character as I've seen Hanks play in a long time. Julia Roberts costarred as a wealthy Texan with a particular interest in helping the Afghans, who pushes Wilson into making things happen. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann plays Gust Avrakotos, a CIA officer who helps spearhead the CIA efforts. The character interplay between these three was extraordinarily witty and very fast paced.
People not already somewhat familiar with the history of Soviet Afghanistan may find themselves barely keeping up, but anyone who's read about it should love the film. The historical aspects are reasonably acurate as far as I can determine. I don't know how accurate the portrayal of Charlie Wilson himself is, but I've not found anything saying that it misses the mark, either.
In any case, it's a very entertaining portrayal of how the U.S. got into Afghansitan. I'd whole heartedly reccommend it to anyone with an interest in that bit of history. Plus it has Tom Hanks.
As a backgrounder, Charlie Wilson was the pretty much no-name congressman from Texas who first took an interest in the exploits of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the soviets. He also happened to be on the right committees to get something done about it, and spearheaded the drastic increase in U.S. aid to the resistance, ultimately ousting the Soviets from Afghanistan.
Tom Hanks did a brilliant job playing the hard drinking, womanizing Charlie Wilson, about as enjoyable a character as I've seen Hanks play in a long time. Julia Roberts costarred as a wealthy Texan with a particular interest in helping the Afghans, who pushes Wilson into making things happen. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann plays Gust Avrakotos, a CIA officer who helps spearhead the CIA efforts. The character interplay between these three was extraordinarily witty and very fast paced.
People not already somewhat familiar with the history of Soviet Afghanistan may find themselves barely keeping up, but anyone who's read about it should love the film. The historical aspects are reasonably acurate as far as I can determine. I don't know how accurate the portrayal of Charlie Wilson himself is, but I've not found anything saying that it misses the mark, either.
In any case, it's a very entertaining portrayal of how the U.S. got into Afghansitan. I'd whole heartedly reccommend it to anyone with an interest in that bit of history. Plus it has Tom Hanks.