Charlie Wilson’s War
Mike Nichols is so well entrenched as one of the great American directors of the past 50 years- anyone really want to argue me on that?- that it’s sometimes curious to realize that he’s fundamentally a comedy director at his core, considering films like “The Birdcage,” “Primary Colors,” “Working Girl,” “The Graduate” under his belt over the years. After the dramatic love square he created in 2004’s “Closer” and poetic meditation of life and death of his HBO movie of “Angels in America,” he returns not just to comedy (however subtle) and politics for the first time since his superb “Primary Colors” with this remarkably well-told true story. Tom Hanks (getting better and bolder over the years, and at the top of his game in this movie) plays Charlie Wilson, a Texas Congressman in the ’80s of no particular circumstance besides his penchant for womanizing and debauchery until he becomes intrigued by the Afghani struggle against Soviet Russia that basically brought the Cold War to an end. Of course, were it not for our covert assistance to Afghanistan in delivering weapons and supplies to them over the years, who knows how much longer the Cold War would have lasted. For that now-redressed piece of information, we can thank Wilson, who was the Congressman responsible for getting the CIA funding for our support.
Nichols brings all of the elements of Aaron Sorkin’s intelligent and deviously funny screenplay to bear with a master’s touch and elegance, starting with our introduction to Wilson himself. A Republican in name, but a liberal in attitude, we see him in a hot tub with colleagues from the private sector and beautiful women attracted to power. This is a side we don’t really see of Hanks much, and admittedly he’s more surface charm than inner corruption, but that charisma is important for the character of Charlie Wilson, who’s rarely without a lovely lady at his side (his office at Congress is teaming with them, including Amy Adams as his chief secretary). This isn’t our typical movie view of corrupt Congressmen (see “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”), mainly because we’re supposed to like Wilson, and we do, even when history has shown us the price we ultimately would pay for his actions (9/11 anyone?). Wilson says it best when the real man is quoted at the end, saying simply, “We fucked up the endgame.” You can say that again.
It’s hard for Nichols to do so, however. Sorkin gives him a juicy piece of scripted meat to chew on and feed to his actors, including Julia Roberts as a Texas socialite who rails against the Afghani treatment of women while at the same time unafraid to call in a few favors for her good friend Charlie so he can wage his war. Best of all is the reliably excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman (man, it’s hard to believe I first remember him from “Twister,” of all things, as Dusty) as Gust Avrakotos, a CIA agent assigned to the Afghani war with the Soviet Union to figure out a solution. He’s not alone, though- it’s him and “three other guys,” as he memorably says- but it’s not until Charlie comes along that he and his “three other guys” get the funding necessary to really do something. Don’t let the funny hair and big glasses lull you, however- as with all his films, Hoffman carries the acting load with daring and sometimes dark wit that goes beyond odd costuming. He’s the real deal as an actor, and Nichols is the real deal as a filmmaker in his ability to find the bold fun and provocation in even the most serious stories. Personally, it doesn’t quite hold a candle to his criminally-underrated “Primary Colors” as political satire, but it’d be a crime to let that stop you from seeing his latest pin prick on Washington’s corrupt hand.
