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Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman plot to bring down communism in the misfiring satire Charlie Wilson's War |
There is a compelling film to be made here around how the
US’s short-sighted policies in Afghanistan during the 1980s led to catastrophic
implications in the 2000s. This isn’t that film. Instead Nichols – with some
playful rat-a-tat dialogue from Aaron Sorkin – settles for a political caper,
which only nods vaguely at the future disaster of 9/11 in favour of a
feel-good, against-the-odds triumph. It’s a massive shame, as a third act which
really embraced how policy failures in Afghanistan contributed to the rise of
the Taliban and Al-Queda could have been compelling and thought provoking.
Watching this film you could come away with no real idea why
the fighters the Wilson works so desperately to get defensive anti-aircraft
missiles to, would end up recruiting young men to fly planes into buildings. The
film nods at this, with Wilson failing to raise even a paltry million for
investment in education and healthcare in Afghanistan post-Soviet occupation
(after raising billions for weapons to fight the Soviets). But we don’t get a
sense of the bigger picture here. How did hatred for the Russians, with the
Americans as allies, flip into fury at the West? The film doesn’t want to think
about it.
Instead this is a light bit-of-fluff. It’s a comic drama of
the sort Hollywood loves: the playboy with immense depth. The hero whose heart
melts at a refugee camp and dedicates himself to helping people. The film uses
as a framing device a medal ceremony, with Wilson being praised for his vital
role in bringing about the defeat of the USSR. It’s all feel-good – and for all
we see at the end a brief moment of Wilson in tears at his failure to ‘finish
the job’ by offering real hope to the Afghans – and that doesn’t feel like the whole
story.
There is plenty of comedy though, even if the political
awareness is light. Gust and Charlie’s first meeting is a well-staged farce of
Wilson juggling geopolitics with heading off oncoming scandal, that requires
Gust to frequently step in and out of his office as two different conversations
take place. Comic material is mined from Wilson’s handpicked office staff of
attractive women who, contrary to expectation, turn out to be brilliantly insightful
and hyper-competent. CIA agent Gust is a gift of a role for Philip Seymour
Hoffman (who is great fun) as a foul-mouthed, just-this-side-of-OTT maverick
who genuinely cares about his job.
Hoffman fares better than the other two leads, both of whom
feel miscast. The casting of Hanks and Roberts seems designed to keep a film
that could have been a sharp attack on America’s world policy feeling as cosy
as possible. After all, this is America’s uncle and America’s sweetheart: they
couldn’t be part of geopolitical shenanigans! Sadly, Hanks doesn’t have the
touch of smarm and cocksure lightness with depth the part needs (Tom Cruise
would have been better). Julia Roberts seems too wholesome for a sexual femme
fatale (Michelle Pfeiffer would have been better).
Nichols does keep the pace up and his direction is assured
and professional. But this is a strange and toothless film which, after the
initial energy of Wilson managing to get the funding the Afghans need, has no
idea where to go. So instead it slowly drains out to nothingness. A late scene as
Gust explains the dangers of abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban to Charlie (with
the accompaniment of plane sounds on the soundtrack) hints at the film this
could have been. But instead, this sticks for being a romp about how an
unexpected hero changed the world. The fact it was partly for the worse doesn’t
fit this narrative.
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