Charlie Wilson's War

Kristen and I watched Charlie Wilson's War on Friday night. I read the book awhile back and loved it. We never were able to make it out to the theater to see this one, but we've been trying and trying to find a open night to watch it together.

Tom Hanks is so good in this picture. As somebody who's seen Charlie Wilson in lots of different capacities over the years, I can say that Hanks nailed the character. I'm not one of those guys who thinks Tom Hanks is the best actor in the history of film, but he really did an amazing job in this one.

As much as it pains my wife to hear this, I'm not really a Julia Roberts fan. Her role was kinda' non-existent in my mind.

I AM one of those guys that thinks that Phillip Seymour-Hoffman is one of the best actors in the history of film. This guy amazes me. The role of Gust Avrakatos is a pretty tough needle to thread, but Hoffman does it. Plus, he's a portly gentlemen and you all know I like to see big brothers out there making good in Hollywood.

The movie did a good job of following the book for the most part. Certainly, movies are never as good as their bookish-beginnings, but the movie was still pretty true.

Until the end.

If you haven't read the book or know much about what happened, Congressman Charlie Wilson covertly smuggled weapons to the "mujahideen" in Afghanistan who were engaged in a war with the Soviet Union. It was all very Cold War and a big deal in Washington once the Afghani fighters began knocking Hind helicopters out of the sky.

The problem is that Wilson's effort essentially armed and trained the folks who would eventually fly jet planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The book goes into great detail as to how Wilson's armament and encouragement trickled down to those with anti-American sentiments and speaks openly about why we heard so very little about Wilson in the months immediately following 9/11.

The movie tries to fix that - it tries to paint Wilson in a better light, tries to make him the ultimate hero by showcasing his desire to stay in Afghanistan, educating the children of the mujahideen on America and freedom and such.

That might have happened in reality, but I think it's a departure from the book. That bugged me. I was content to see events unfold as they did. I don't need somebody to go off the text just to make sure I know who the hero is. I think folks are smart enough to recognize the flawed protagonist and to realize that life is rarely as "Cinderella" as the movies would have us believe.

If you're gonna' see it, be prepared to hear some creative cursing. There's also a little bit of nudity in the first ten minutes. (I wasn't prepared for that...)

If you've read the book, I think you'd dig it. If you're not familiar with the whole Charlie Wilson thing, I think you might find it boring.

However, he does mention Lufkin and Nacogdoches and there's a picture of the meeting room at Crown Colony, which is here in Lufkin.

Anybody else see it? Anybody like it?