War may be hell. But “Charlie Wilson’s War” is a heck of a good time.
That’s the reason both to endorse this witty, zippy and even enlightening political satire and to question it. Indeed, it uses sophisticated flair to bring attention to a still-relevant episode in recent U.S. foreign policy history. An admirable achievement.
But the movie’s flippant tone, farcical set pieces and antic personalities (however accurate) trivialize a story about that period in the 1980s when our government may have inadvertently contributed to the very unfunny 21st-century scourge of radical Islamic terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks. The original intention of officials at that time was to help win the Cold War. Still, it somehow feels wrong to giggle so much during a piece that deals with how we ended up financing the mujahedeen’s resistance then against the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, providing the succor that would later fuel the repressive Taliban and, eventually, al Qaeda.
I’ll leave it to others to assess the impertinence of producer/star Tom Hanks, eminent director Mike Nichols (“Silkwood,” “The Graduate”) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (“West Wing”) because, as a movie, “War” certainly does work. Like Nichols’ previous current-events comedy, “Primary Colors,” this manages to be both smart and entertaining, well-acted and yet also audaciously over the top.
It begins where many great pictures do: with a larger-than-life, congenial but flawed protagonist enmeshed in a high-stakes conflict. The adventure is only enhanced here by the fact that it is a true-life one involving no less than the future security of the Western world. The irony level soars that an eccentric Texas party animal, like minor congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks in a bravura performance), would be a linchpin in the era’s epic global clash of civilizations.
The narrative traces how Wilson, a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, got sucked into becoming the House’s chief and effective advocate for secretly funding the Afghan rebels. Julia Roberts brandishes diva attitude to full advantage in the supporting role of the flamboyantly groomed heiress Joanne Herring, a right-wing anti-Communist and Charlie’s occasional lover, who moves Charlie and enlists him into the cause.
‘Charlie Wilson’s War’
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