Sex, Drugs and the Mujahedeen

What do you mean you didn’t know that Tom Hanks singled-handedly ended the Cold War? This strange black comedy focuses on the covert machinations of the US government in the Soviet-Afghan war of the ‘80s, which seem absurd enough to be unbelievable, but we are assured are almost entirely true. The film begins with a military ceremony honouring Congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks) for bringing down Communism – a more traditional conflict for American war movies. The music swells, the crowd cheer, and it seems possible that this is going to be another of those Captain America war films which the US seems to be mass producing. We leave our expectations behind, however, in the next scene, where we start at the beginning in 1980. We find this same congressman learning of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on a TV broadcast, whilst at a Las Vegas hot-tub party surrounded by strippers and lines of cocaine. This Texan lothario, whose greatest achievement in his six terms as a congressman, as it is commented later, ‘is being re-elected five times’ is prodded into action by born-again socialite and Charlie’s sometime lover Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and grumpy CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Charlie’s initial sympathy for the plight of the Afghans transforms into a decade of struggle to increase the US budget for covertly arming the Afghan Mujahedeen. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, wellversed in political satire from the acclaimed TV series The West Wing, brings his typical high-brow, rapidfire dialogue and humour to even the most intense moments. A terse conversation between Charlie and President Zia of Pakistan for instance, becomes bafflingly funny. The film reconciles the poignant and the humorous, and creates an incisive, entertaining black comedy. The same cannot be said of the character of Charlie Wilson, whose party-hard bravado is never quite resolved with the great man he somehow becomes. Hanks relaxes into the role enough to make him likeable, at least. However, there’s little chemistry between Hanks and Roberts, who is also plausible, if too brittle and entirely overshadowed by her blonde, gravity-defying bouffant. It is Hoffman who shines, with his disgruntled frustration and sarcasm, perfect for Sorkin’s style. While the victory seems clear cut, what is curiously not specifically mentioned is that the Afghan freedom fighters the US financed became the core of Al-Qaeda, a bitter irony which one would expect the filmmakers to exploit. As Charlie puts it, ‘we fucked up the endgame.’ While some might say the same about the ending of Charlie Wilson’s War, the saving graces are the subtle, yet emotive hints at the fate which America had in store, and may suffer again if lessons aren’t learnt. by Laura Williams