Mike Nichols' undercover history of the liberation of Afghanistan, "Charlie Wilson's War," is so witty and light on its feet, it's a pity it pulls its punches.A society matron (Julia Roberts) gets a congressman (Tom Hanks) involved in the Cold War in "Charlie Wilson's War."
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A deft condensation of George Crile's nonfiction best-seller, this is the story of how an obscure Texan congressman helped bring down the Soviet empire and -- indirectly -- the World Trade Center.
Universal seems at a loss as to how to market this truly tall tale -- but don't blame the publicity guys. The combined smarts of director Nichols, writer Aaron Sorkin, Tom Hanks and Co. haven't pinned down how they feel about Wilson or what he did.
The movie's tone is all over the place: sincere and celebratory one minute, caustic and ironic the next. There's nuance and complexity here, but it's doled out with broad farce and knee-jerk populist rhetoric. It's as if they want it to play inside the Beltway and hit below the belt, both at once.
Set during the Reagan era and resonating uneasily with current events, in many ways this is a deeply Clintonian movie: astute, pragmatic, equivocal and likely to prove highly contentious. (That's what you get if you put the director of "Primary Colors" with the writer of "The West Wing.")
It is fun, though. (READ)
1 comment:
It's hard to believe that this movie is glorifying Terrorism, Covert Wars, Illegal Drug Use, Corrupt Politicians and the Breaking of International Laws all at once....but it just might be.
By reading Rotten Tomatoes.com one will read "Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together, the three of them--Charlie, Joanne and Gust--travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer."
But you don't read about Tom Hanks and Julia's characters recruiting a Saudi Arabian man to lead their joint venture, by the name of Osama Bin Laden.
If America has forgotten so quickly, go back and read about a leader of the Afghani Resistance against the Russians. Yep, Charlie Wilson helped train, educate and fund Osama Bin Laden...and look what Osama Bin Laden has done since Charlie Wilson found him.
You would think that Hollywood and anyone with a brain would rather educate people. Glorifying Charlie Wilson, Osama Bin Laden and Joanne Herring is wrong. Many people don't know that Joanne Herring is part of the Johnson Family that owns Kellogg, Brown and Root and DynCorp Private Contracting Groups. Who would have thought huh?
My advice, read about these scum in books or on-line. By the way, the book Charlie Wilson’s War is rather dry and isn‘t worth the paper its written on if you asked me, but you get an idea of what went on during that time period.
My Advice, don't watch movies that glorify Terrorism and the people who get rich off Wars against Terrorism. Those who seek to impose their own ideology and want nothing else but to be powerful should rott in hell.
Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth.
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