The story of the biggest covert operation (and possibly biggest screw up) in American History. When unorthodox congressman Charles Wilson (Tom Hanks) learns about the true horrors of the Cold War on the people of Afghanistan, he realises that America must get involved to stop the slaughter. He is spurred into action by religious fanatic Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and aided by street-wise CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as he attempts to raise American involvement against from a million dollar surveillance programme, to a billion dollar action against the Soviet War Machine.
Powerful doesn't begin to describe this film. Its composed of documentary footage from the 1980's showing the Russian tanks and helicopters slaughtering innocent Afghanistan civilians, to footage of the refugee camps and the 'survivors' from the attacks. It really hits home how bad it was out there and how extreme some of the casualties were. The film is also a real eye opener about the large part of America's opinion about the whole war - prior to Wilson, their plan was to watch and do little but Wilson manages to change all that. Even then, throughout the story there is a constant 'joke' that many of the people in charge keep getting the wrong country.
The rest of the film is stunning. The trio of stars who make up the main cast give outstanding performances. There is plenty of humour to break the tension, usually from Hoffman's bizarre character and Wilson's 'Jail-bait' secretaries. And the fact that the whole film is a true story just gives everything a much bigger impact.
There is no way to review Charlie Wilson's War without giving away spoilers, but this is the story of how the Cold War was brought to a close and every minute of the film will draw you like a moth to the flame. But as I said before, a large part of the story is not for the faint of heart (trying not to give too many spoilers, but try to guess who would be most attracted to 'toy-bombs').
