Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Charlie Wilson's War is a rare thing--a funny political film, a sexy history lesson. Director Mike Nichols brings a light comic touch to the story of the Democratic Texas Congressman (Tom Hanks) with a thing for the ladies and a soft spot for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Julia Roberts plays the wealthy conservative socialite who convinces Wilson to orchestrate the covert diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Afghan rebels in the years following the Soviet invasion in 1979. Neither Hanks nor Roberts is particularly convincing as a Texas politico, but that's OK. The film crackles whenever Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, comes on screen, ripping mischievously through his sardonic dialogue and bringing everyone else's game up a notch. Adapted from a book by the late George Crile, Aaron Sorkin's screenplay strongly suggests that the Congressional failure to help rebuild Afghanistan's decimated post-war infrastructure helped make that country an eventual hotbed of terrorist activity. But what sticks is the criticism of U.S. politics as essentially a popularity contest, driven by friendships, favors, and fickle public opinion--a system prone to leave jobs unfinished as they become unfashionable. Originally published in the White Plains Times.