filmland / By Charlie Myers

Charlie digs Charlie

Plus: ‘P.S. I Love You,’ sort of

(Dec. 27, 2007) Openings

CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR

GALLERY >

Easily the most interesting of the four local openings last Friday, Charlie Wilson’s War, directed by Mike Nichols with a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing), is an ironic and ultimately serious look at the U.S. covert involvement in the war between Soviet forces and the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s.

Based on the book by George Crile, the film follows the story of obscure (to me) Texas Democratic congressman Charlie Wilson who conspired to get funding and C.I.A. help for the Afghan rebels in their successful effort to drive the Soviets out of their country.

Unlike other releases this year about U.S. military involvement in other countries, Charlie Wilson’s War takes a lighter approach and it is all the more effective because of that strategy. The coke-snorting, woman-chasing Wilson (who retired in 1996) may seem like an unlikely person to take up the Afghan cause, but as effectively portrayed by Tom Hanks, in his best performance in a while, Wilson has a depth that is belied by his surface appearance (he calls one of his young female staff “Jailbait”).

Hanks is nicely supported by a fine cast that includes Julia Roberts, who revels in her role as a conservative, religious (which doesn’t prevent her sleeping with Wilson) Houston socialite who hates Communism, Philip Seymour Hoffman (who’s everywhere these days) as an irascible but intelligent C.I.A. agent who knows how things work, and the delightful Amy Adams (Enchanted) who plays Wilson’s assistant with aplomb.

The film does make its political points, particularly when the same congress that secretly appropriated a billion dollars to help the Afghans won’t give one million for education to the same country. Let’s see, billions for killing and nothing for social programs. Sound familiar? Rated R for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use. 107 m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

P.S. I LOVE YOU

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