Charlie Wilson’s War proves the old adage: truth is stranger than fiction. Though he never got public credit for it, Wilson was responsible for the US funding of the resistance movement that drove the USSR from Afghanistan, and paved the way for the collapse of the Soviet government and the demolition of the Berlin Wall. We also know now that that same funding was a causal factor in making Afghanistan a hot spot for the training and nurturing of Muslim terrorists, and prepared the way for the creation of Al Qaeda. According to Wilson, "We fucked up the endgame."

Wilson, a Democratic Congressman from Texas’s second district, was a womanizer, alcoholic, and all-around hedonist with an office staff of beautiful women known as "Charlie’s Angels." Considering his usual bent, it seems odd (truth being stranger than fiction) that Wilson would be interested in the Afghan War at all. But he was, and noticed that the US wasn’t spending enough to take care of things. In this film he keeps saying that what they need to do is "blow up helicopters." He not only secures funds to that end, but Soviet-made weapons as well -- by, incredibly enough, channeling through Pakistan a purchase of arms by Israel.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) has penned a deliciously wicked black comedy about these events. It’s a relief to watch a film that has literate dialogue, and builds its jokes from ideas rather than locker-room humor. If you have doubts about the way the US government has been handling American affairs, at home or, particularly, abroad, you’ll roll in the aisle at some of the lines. You might think a cast top-heavy with Oscar winners and an Oscar-winning director (Mike Nichols) would cancel each other out, but somehow, it all works fine.

Tom Hanks is excellent, as usual. His Charlie Wilson is exceptionally likable despite his vices -- or maybe because of them. Amy Adams sparkles as his faithful assistant, Bonnie Bach. But it’s Philip Seymour Hoffman, as CIA agent Gus Avrakotos, who worked closely with Wilson, who steals the show. In one hysterical scene, Avrakotos and Wilson try to discuss the Afghan situation while being interrupted by constant updates of a potential cocaine scandal that’s moving in on Wilson. With impeccable timing, Hoffman repeatedly leaves and re-enters, as if caught in a revolving door, each time generating a bigger laugh.

Though nominated for a Golden Globe, the weakest actor here is Julia Roberts. Though cast as Joanne Herring, one of Wilson’s favorite women of Texas power, here Roberts seems too glossy and ineffective, the passion she exhibited in Erin Brockovich a dim memory.

Back to the pluses, of which there are many, including the music score by James Newton Howard. It’s brilliant, right down to an ironic use of "And He Shall Purify," from Handel’s Messiah, rescored to make a point quite different from the one originally intended.

It’s difficult to write, direct, and perform a comedy about a subject that has had such serious repercussions. But beginning with Sorkin’s script, right through great directing and acting, and ending with tight editing and scoring, Charlie Wilson’s War does it.

• Go Back