Through the end of October, the library is offering all DVD's for $1/week. We decided to take advantage of that and we rented Charlie Wilson's War. We'd heard great things about it and Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for an Oscar so we figured it had to be good.
I give it two big thumbs up. It's the true story of a congressman from Texas and his decision to support Afghanistan Mujahideen fight the Soviet forces that occupied Afghanistan. There is real footage of the Soviet and Afghan troops in the film. He took a situation that started out with a budget of $5 Million dollars and turned it into into a billion dollar war that became one of the biggest covert operations in history. It is amazing to see how this one man, with the help of a Rogue-like CIA agent, pulls off arming the Afghanis with Soviet made weapons that they gained by gathering their allies.
Charlie Wilson is encouraged by a friend, Joanne Herring, to visit Pakistan and see the Afghan refugee camp there. He goes, and is astonished to find the conditions in which these people are living. Even more shocking is the CIA agent in Pakistan who insists on a low-key approach and decision to arm the Afghanis with weapons more suitable to World War I. The Afghanis would have no chance to defend themselves against the Soviet helicopters with metal plating were ineffective rifles. With the resources Charlie Wilson got from Egypt and Israel, the Afhganis were able to defeat the Russians and regain control of their country.
If you are expecting a boring war film, this is definitely not it. Mixed in with the covert operation antics is the story of an investigation against Charlie Wilson for cocaine use, led by then Federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani.
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