Nichol’s ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ Echoes ‘Catch-22′
December 23rd, 2007 |
| Universal |
| Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in “Charlie Wilson’s War” |
Editor’s Note: While critics on the right would like to downplay Rep. Charlie Wilson’s role in the Afghan conflict in the interest of elevating Ronald Reagan’s legacy of ending the Cold War to Mt. Rushmore status, this book and movie make clear that there would be no Reagan legacy on that front without Wilson. What a shocker it must be for them to learn that a liberal Democrat had more to do with it than Reagan. And while critics on the left say Wilson’s war set the stage for 9-11, the book and movie make clear that was not Wilson’s fault. He could not get Congress to allocate a mere $1 million to rebuild schools in Afghanistan. One of the most worthy historical lessons brought out by this film - a film a tad short on sex for this editor’s taste - was the accurate portrayal of American politics in an era when it was still acceptable to “pursue happiness” as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Since Bill Clinton’s dalliances in the Oval Office, the Christian Right, the GOP and George W. Bush have just about eliminated fun and freedom in American life and politics.
Review by Henry Rosenbush
In a holiday season filled with forged presidential documents, aliens and predators, colorful computerized mythical creatures and animated chipmunks, it is refreshing to find an adult film capable of balancing a human story against the backdrop of politics and war.
Not the Iraq War, but the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Based on the bestseller by the late George Crile, “Charlie Wilson’s War” is a rare film that, in Frank Capra’s lone man against the world scenario, a rare liberal Democrat Congressman from Texas who still knew how to have fun took on seemingly overwhelming odds and perhaps deserves more credit for the West’s triumph over the Soviet Union in the Cold War than Ronald Reagan.
In the Bush era when the oversaturation of television spots and trailers has dispensed with much of the sardonic wit in this world, this is a fresh drama masquerading as a comedy. At times a blurry surrealism takes shape, especially when director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Catch-22) juxtaposes real war blown up to grainy echoes of the superiority of the Russian planes and helicopters decimating villages, people and animals with modern day recreations and obvious computer-generated explosions and tracer trails.
Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin introduce Charlie, wonderfully rendered by Tom Hanks, in a Las Vegas hot tub with three naked women and another man, all snorting cocaine and having fun like Americans still knew how to do in the 1980s. In an astonishing admission, Wilson reveals himself to be a Democratic Congressman from East Texas. The other man is interested in getting a dubious project bankrolled while “Good Time Charlie,” as he is known, is enjoying repartee with the three nubile beauties, later dubbed “Charlie’s Angels.”
In a real-life subplot, Wilson will later escape charges of drug use and sundry sexual peccadilloes that are glossed over in the film with aplomb.
In a pure movie moment, Charlie becomes seduced by a television image of Dan Rather reporting on the decidedly one-sided war at a point in time when the U.S. is not supporting the Afghan Mujahedeen against the Soviets. Clearly it is an epiphany for both Charlie and the audience as we see a man drunk on Scotch and high on cocaine suddenly transformed by something far bigger than himself and the realization that something should be done.
Through a series of events, Charlie is summoned by “the sixth richest woman in Texas,” Joanne Herring, a snazzy perf by Julia Roberts - still looking great in a quick bikini shot. Her overriding concern is a defeat against the Russians and that Charlie, who sits on strategic committees, can get funding for weapons support.
In a closeup shot with Herring straightening her eyelashes with a safety pin in a vanity mirror, while educating Hanks about the war, he is submerged in her bathtub with a yellow rubber duck. The scene is both hilarious and subtlety frightening in its realism.
Again, history will bear out what actually occurred, leading to the Russian withdrawal in 1989; soon the Berlin Wall would fall - along with the Cold War.
Within the context of the movie, however, is a different animal, with Hanks delivering clever dialogue and rapid fire double-entendres, especially when engaged with Roberts and Seymour Philip Hoffman as Gust Avrakotos. Hoffman’s portrayal of the CIA agent who helped Wilson and the Mujahedeen could produce a second Oscar on the heals of his win for “Capote.”
He not only sets the screen on fire with every syllable but pisses out the flames himself. Few actors could make the act of being called a motherfucker charming, but he manages to succeed. His gruff CIA-op is profane and incorrigible, but if you want to start a covert war, he is the top choice. His scenes are searing in their directness yet believable.
At the half hour mark we travel to the Afghanistan (actually Morocco doubling nicely) capital to meet with the President Zia (a silky Om Puri) and then to a refugee camp where Charlie and his assistant, Bonnie Bach, the perky and adoring Amy Adams, simultaneously starring in “Enchanted,” witness firsthand the carnage. In a startling shot, the camera of Stephen Goldblatt reveals a huge valley of tents with thousands of wounded and dying against the backdrop of unforgiving mountains.
Kudos to production designer Victor Kempster, editing by John Bloom and Antonia Van Drimmelen and James Newton-Howard’s superb score for enhancing the top-notch film. It shines in all departments, and although there could have been more, it comes in at a brisk 97 minutes. I suspect the film makers knew they had a good thing going with the steady influx of humor during most of the running time, and that whenever dismembered children or innocent farmers are being strafed by attack copters onscreen, less was more. When the denouement is revealed there will be no more laughter.
As in his black comedy “Catch-22,” Nichols has a companion piece with the absurdity of war and politics and the one sane person surrounded by increasingly insane characters. In the earlier film illicit activities in the military and government services underlined a dark tale, as black humorous as any movie I saw in my early teens, where even a man cut in half by a low flying plane while standing in a boat comes off as both startling and funny as hell.
Getting jibes at liberals, conservative Christians, Republicans and Democrats in even measure - while not sparing Israeli and Muslem paranoia - it is always handled with humor. Much of the film’s success lies in the sheer number of laughs. Hoffman is so funny we forget he kills people for a living.
The sexual liaisons are deftly handled with minimal nudity which along with the dollops of bawdy innuendos warrants the R rating, but the story is at heart an unrequited love story between Charlie and Joanne set against the bigger picture of conflict across the globe.
Charlie’s Angels, who handle the secretarial duties, are a quartet of impossibly gorgeous women who could together form the genus of an entire movie subplot and are portrayed by Wynn Everett, Mary Bonner Baker, Rachel Nichols and Shiri Appleby. While somewhat of an outrageous subtext surrounding himself with a bevy of unbuttoned-bloused hotties, it is undeniable that their presence ratchets up the seamy element of Charlie’s life outside the office. They are probably - one hopefully surmises - merely a cinematic wet dream rather than a feminist deconstruction of the male conception of secretarial fantasy. They are also smart, all pitching in with Bonnie to pen his press releases on the allegations of congressional misconduct.
There are stirring moments as the Afghans down their first three helicopters, and Ned Beatty has an nice turn as the Christian moral Doc Long, who too is transformed and delivers a rousing speech promising help from America. His vote was essential to the successful covert mission. Funding would go from $5 million to $1 billion dollars before the conflict’s end.
With echoes of “Catch-22″ some 37 years later, Nichols has fashioned a superb film that mixes absurdist comedy with realism to concoct a recipe that feeds the mind with delicacies peppered spicily. Bring plenty of (small) sodas.
Originally published at RosenbushCafe.Com
Tags: Movies
August 7th, 2008 at 12:52 am
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