"Charlie Wilson's War"

Directed by: Mike Nichols
Starring: Tom Hanks, Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Amy
Adams, Julia Roberts
MPAA rating: R (for adult
language, brief nudity, drug
use)
Running time: 98 minutes
Best suited for: Tom Hanks
and Julia Roberts fans, the his
tory-lite crowd.
Least suited for: those expect
ing "Saving Private Ryan II"

War films haven't fared too well lately. "The Kingdom," "In the Valley of Elah," "Rendition" and "Lions for Lambs" have come and gone largely unnoticed. True, most of these efforts mixed a healthy dose of global politics and a finger-wagging morality with a modicum of combat- but I suspect most of us are too immersed in the real thing to pay attention to Hollywood's fictive attempts pointing out that war, indeed, may be hell.

On the surface, "Charlie Wilson's War" is another such endeavor, striving to convince us that America is just a misunderstood schoolyard bully, trying desperately to be liked by the other kids- y'know, Afghanistan, France, Libya- but instead stumbling over a myriad of misguided good intentions.

Yet I also found a calming breath of originality in "Charlie Wilson's War," which is based on the covert compassion of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson in the early 1980s. It's a gentle giant of a film- not as preachy as it is telling; not as extremist as cautiously, politely centrist.

It's more of a biopic really, a flattering look at a potentially unflattering politician, who while trying to generate funds for Afghani rebels finds himself embroiled in personal scandals back home. The harddrinking, womanizing Wilson is, frankly, a poster child for good-ol'-boy American hucksterism, and by not shying away from Charlie's less flattering persona, it depicts the intriguing, warts-and-all human fabric behind the marble facade of Washington politicking.

Yes, director Mike Nichols assured us of liking Charlie Wilson by casting Tom Hanks in the lead. (Actually, Hanks cast Nichols, but you get the drift.) The icing on this particular cake, however, comes in two other portrayals- Philip Seymour Hoffman as a cynical CIA agent and Julia Roberts as a wealthy compassionate conservative.

Sure, "Charlie Wilson's War" could have been dark and brooding: Switch out Mr. Hanks for, say, Sean Penn, and turn compassionate good intentions into an ominous power play- a more "Syriana"-like approach- and we would've come away with a far different historical perspective.

But "Charlie Wilson's War" isn't so much a condemnation of this country's myopic pingpong philosophy regarding the Middle East as it is an "Idiot's Guide to How Washington Works"; not as much an anti-war film as simply a bemused-war film.

Back in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Despite that country's strategic location between Soviet territory and the oilrich Arabian gulf, America barely blinked. Congressman Wilson took notice, aware of the potential consequences if Afghanistan fell to the Soviets.

Before the decade was out, Afghani rebels had received more than $1 billion in global aid- mostly from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia- and had defeated the Soviet Union. Most of that financial aid came directly from Charlie Wilson's efforts- and it isn't lost on the audience that, once the war was over, U.S. assistance fluttered away like an uncaged parakeet.

Charlie Wilson couldn't muster more than $1 million to rebuild Afghanistan (a billion-odd dollars for weapons but pennies for schools and hospitals), and because the war had been largely covert, most Afghanis were never aware of this country's secret shenanigans to help secure victory. That country never really even knew we were an ally.

Most of us are well aware that Afghanistan's billiondollar arsenal probably turned against us after 9/11. Rockets that once brought down Soviet gunships would later target American helicopters. That's the ironic tension that backlights "Charlie Wilson's War"- the same kind of weird vibes I felt after empathizing with Japanese soldiers in Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima."

As the film ends, an irreverent quote by Charlie Wilson appears against a black screen: "These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world. And then we f***ed up the endgame."

It's harder to tell the good guys from the bad guys these days. "Charlie Wilson's War" makes that point quite distinctly, and without pointing fingers. I kind of like that in a movie.