A scathing attack on US foreign policy, disguised as comedy Michael Moore, eat your heart out. You've got nothing' on Aaron Sorkin.
Most of the reviews I've read of this movie missed the point by a mile. I've read criticism of the movie for being too light-hearted, for glorifying a terrible war and being too cheeky with the consequences. And I have to wonder, were they watching the same movie? Or were they simply taking it at face value, failing to notice that the entire movie was a thinly-veiled parody? Charlie Wilson's War is about a corrupt, live-hard-party-harder congressman from Texas (Hanks) who embodies just about all the negative qualities of humanity we can imagine. He chases and objectifies women, nearly gets brought down in a drug scandal, and freely admits his love of politics stems from the realization he could manipulate people. It's a movie about how he became a hero by almost single-handedly funding and fighting a covert war in Afghanistan that ultimately drove out the Soviet Army and helped trigger the collapse of the Soviet Union. And though the characters in the movie celebrate this "achievement", the movie itself, emphatically, does not.
Hoffman, ironically, plays the voice of conscience. I say ironically, because he plays Gust Avrakotos, a corrupt, sardonic CIA agent who plays both sides and mostly encourages Wilson in his effort. But unlike Wilson, who, despite his smoothness, can be read as somewhat naive, Gust knows exactly what he is doing and seems to have a firm grasp of what the consequences could be. If anything, this makes him guiltier than Wilson, but he's also the only one to voice the film's true message aloud: "We'll see".
That zen master speech that Hoffman delivers at the end of the movie felt a bit heavy-handed to me. But then, maybe I overestimated the movie's audience. Because it seemed like it was tacked on at the end to spell out to anyone who was left wondering that the entire movie was a reference to the events that led up to 9/11, and the short-sightedness of America's involvement in wars all over the world that backfired. Reading outside comments and reviews, though, maybe the speech wasn't enough, because I have to wonder why so few people seem to get it.
A longtime fan of the West Wing, I have always admired Sorkin's lack of need to talk down to his audience. This movie might have struck the wrong balance: just smart enough to be witty, and just dumb enough to attract a massive audience more accustomed to Michael Moore-like, in-your-face criticism of foreign policy, rather than the light touch chosen here. That's why I believe this film has had such a hard time finding its audience.
Of the two approaches, I still vastly prefer this one, though. A Moore film is poorly-researched, underhanded manipulative cheese, and I freely admit I can't stand the guy. But Charlie Wilson's War, despite its brief pandering to its far-left audience (was it really necessary to perpetuate the stereotypes about Jewish money and influence in Congress, Sorkin?) pulls off something neater, cleaner, and far more intelligent. When Wilson, who mostly plays his way through life, gets his heartstrings tugged by the refugees in Peshawar, it's not an appeal to the sympathy of the audience that we're witnessing, but rather, the cheap tactics that utterly sway a man so naive that he asks for alcohol from the president of Pakistan. Wilson, we are drawn to understand, is living proof why a little bit of knowledge - with a lack of perspective - can be a dangerous thing. Was it really Charlie Wilson's War? Or was it the war of those who manipulated Wilson to encourage the US short-sighted approach whereby the enemy of the enemy is (falsely and disastrously) considered to be a friend?
The acting, of course, was spot-on. Hanks and Hoffman both nailed their roles to a T, and what's more, they were a real pleasure to watch on screen. Amy Adams does a great job with her role. The one person I felt was miscast was Julia Roberts. She was playing the ultimate symbol of everything this movie disagreed with, but she seemed too young and tentative to really pull it off. I would've liked to see someone else in her role.
That aside, this is a fine film, with excellent dialogue and some real food for thought. I recommend it to those who can open their eyes enough to understand what is really being said here. 7/10.