“How is it possible that this congressman of no particular importance is doing all this by himself?”
Tom Hanks is back making his semi-annual bid for the Oscar by playing another real-life figure. This time, the two-time winner is taking on the role of Fred Rogers in the utterly endearing and profound A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. The role is tailor-made for Hanks, and he naturally knocks it out of the park as the iconic children’s TV host who changes the life of the cynical, emotionally damaged reporter (Matthew Rhys) sent to interview him for a magazine article. The film is one of the most unassuming and surprising of the year, chock full of earnestness and goodwill that is sure to touch everyone in attendance.
The casting of Hanks as Mister Rogers does not require a huge leap of faith on the audience’s part. After all, the man has successfully brought past historical figures, including Jim Lovell, Richard Phillips, Ben Bradlee and even Walt Disney to the screen. His success in playing real people has less to do with mannerisms and vocal technique however, and more to do with an overall embracing of their sensibilities. This was never more true than in one of Hanks’s less-celebrated turns as a real-life figure; a boozy, womanizing congressman who helped save a third-world country in 2007’s Charlie Wilson’s War.
Set in the 1980s, Charlie Wilson’s War recounted the tale of Charles Wilson (Hanks), a Texas congressman known more for partying and bedding beautiful women than being a political mover and shaker. However upon hearing about the plight of the people of Afghanistan unable to defeat the Soviets, Charlie decides to get their defense budget doubled. This prompts the attention of wealthy socialite and former flame Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), who convinces Charlie to travel to Afghanistan and see for himself the devastation of the people subjected to bombings with which they have almost no resources with which to fight back. Upon return, Charlie makes the acquaintance of Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the caustic CIA agent in charge at the Afghanistan desk. Aided by the two of them, Charlie sets out to help Afghanistan defeat the Russians.
There couldn’t have been a property tailored to the legendary director Mike Nichols than this tale about a boozy, partying Texas congressman, a wealthy socialite and a smart-aleck spy all joining forces to help Afghan troops defeat the Russians. Like many Nichols efforts, Charlie Wilson’s War takes some very potent comedic opportunities and grounds them in a reality with a weight and seriousness that’s never once questioned. Some of the movie’s comedy borders on pure farce, especially the sequence in Charlie’s office where he first meets Gust, who has just gifted him with a nice bottle of scotch. As he’s trying to explain the situation to Charlie, Gust finds himself being ushered in and out of the office as the congressman’s aides come in and out in his place as they try to diffuse a breaking story about the hungover Wilson’s alleged cocaine usage. The sequence ends with perfect hilarity (thanks to that great Aaron Sorkin script) when it’s revealed that Gust has heard everything that was said. “Were you standing at the goddamn door listening to me,” exclaims Charlie. “How could you even — that’s a thick door! You stood there and you listened to me?” Unshaken, Gust replies: “I didn’t stand at the door, don’t be an idiot. I bugged the Scotch bottle.” But Charlie Wilson’s War knows when it needs to get serious where its very real subject is concerned. Listening to the religious Joanne talk about her inspiration for getting involved in the cause of the Afghans is simple, but empowering. “My fervor isn’t about religion,” she states, “it’s about freedom of religion, which we have, they want and the communists are slaughtering them for.” Nothing is more powerful however than seeing Charlie visit the victims of Soviet attacks in Afghanistan. Full of children with lost limbs and adults suffering in makeshift hospitals, the sequence culminates in a long shot of Charlie looking over literally miles and miles of survivors turned refugees that is as sobering and cinematic as can be.
It’s the man himself though where Charlie Wilson’s War becomes a story really worth delving into. There’s something incredibly heroic, yet also truly laughable at the whole situation when you get right down to it. The fact that a congressman known for boozing, drugs, late nights and countless affairs with many women (including, reportedly, the wife of the movie’s director) would be the guardian angel the people of Afghanistan were waiting for. “Until the phone rang this morning Charlie, I never heard of you,” says Gust. “Well, ask around,” replies Charlie.” Gust says: “I did.” “What’d you find out,” asks Charlie. “That your greatest legislative achievement in six terms, is getting reelected five times.” The line isn’t far off. Charlie Wilson’s War shows its titular figure using his political seat for whatever he can get from it, whether it be another night comped at a posh Vegas hotel or wrangling a seat on a committee for no other reason besides the fact that its members get tickets to the Kennedy center. If it’s nothing more than a passing curiosity which initially brings the Afghan’s plight to Charlie’s attention, it’s an embedded empathy that comes alive, leading him to first double their defense budget, before he eventually finds himself knee deep in their corner. If there’s one area in which the joining of the fight of the Afghans and Charlie Wilson made sense, it was in the latter’s wheeling and dealing nature, which the movie shows was used to great effect by his ability to get the CIA and the Israelis to take part in the cause. Charlie Wilson’s War is both funny and entertaining through and through, but it’s real heart is in showing the metamorphosis of this one man as well as the revelation of what he, and the office he held, were both capable of.
You have to love the idea of Hanks taking on the role of a congressman who more or less coasted by for the bulk of his career. The Oscar-winner has a ball indulging in the more scandalous aspects of the man himself, but really shines through in the way he handles Charlie’s emotional transformation once he becomes impassioned. Although Charlie Wilson’s War is a vehicle of the highest order for the producer/star, there’s no way it could function as well as it does without its stellar supporting cast. Roberts sinks her teeth into the role of Joanne, completely altering her famous screen persona as she embodies a woman with a southern gusto and refined determination. With a commitment and willingness to venture outside her comfort zone, Joanne is hands down, one of Roberts’s best screen roles. Likewise, the real-life figure Hoffman takes on is one of sarcasm and a bit of panache, mixed with the kind of jadedness that can only come from years as a spy. The movie’s first scene featuring Gust has him smashing in the office window of his superior after finding out he won’t be going to Helsinki on a mission. Like Roberts, it’s a turn that rivals some of the actor’s best work. Applause must also be given to Amy Adams who, as Charlie’s top administrative assistant, provides the one sane presence in the midst of such giant characters. Adams will still on her way to the A-list at the time, but the way she was able to acquit herself alongside such powerhouse acting names showed she didn’t have far to go.
“This would be the movie to beat…if it was 1998,” remarked one IMDB commentator prior the movie’s Christmas release. The statement isn’t altogether inaccurate since the movie, with its $75 million price tag and pedigree on both sides of the camera came across as the type of standard awards fare which helped create the nature of the Oscar season as it’s known today. Perhaps this is why that in a year which included No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton and Juno, a film like Charlie Wilson’s War seemed a bit out of touch with what the awards-voting side of the industry wanted to see. Audiences felt a similar way as the film failed to even double its production costs as the box-office. Critics however, did respond well to the film which earned a Golden Globe nomination for itself (as Best Motion Picture- Musical/Comedy), Sorkin’s screenplay and each of the three leads. Hoffman even went on to earn a well-deserved Oscar nod. Perhaps a movie like Charlie Wilson’s War would have prospered more as an early summer release, taking advantage of the kind of counter-programming trends becoming popular during that time.
Almost every historical tale which makes its way to Hollywood is eventually going to find itself with less meat on its bones than when it first arrived. Charlie Wilson’s War was no exception as vital figures were morphed into single characters (or written out altogether), while the timeline was compressed in an effort to sustain a 21st century audience’s fleeting attention span. Naturally, this led to criticisms from officials of Afghanistan, Russia and the Reagan administration, all of whom had qualms about the way their side was portrayed. Still, any valid discrepancies aside, Charlie Wilson’s War works on too many levels to dismiss. The movie is fitting send off to a master filmmaker (Nichols died just a few years after the movie’s release) for a variety of reasons, not least of all the way it maintains its aim of entertaining its audience through a story seeped in outrageousness that never shortchanges its importance.
