It's only October but I already have our family's plans for Christmas Day! On December 25th the movie "Charlie Wilson's War will open nationwide and hopefully in Medford Oregon. If it does, the Wickre family will be there. Today, when we went to see the movie, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," we saw a preview for "Charlie Wilson's War." and it looks very good. One of my adult children gave me copy of the book, autographed by Wilson and the author, on which the movie is based and I love It. The movie stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and is directed by Mike Nichols ( The Graduate).
Charlie Wilson's War is the story of how a Democratic Congressman who is a drunken womanizer from east Texas changed the world. Wilson (Tom Hanks) was a junior representative in Congress who, through his tireless work in the 1980's, managed to divert billions of tax payer's dollars to fund the insurgency in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation.( He was on the Appropriations Committee) When he first started in the early 80's only a few million dollars went to Afghanistan, however by 1989 when the Russians finally withdrew, Wilson had raised that number to close to a billion. Wilson used the money to buy weapons and, with the help of a rogue CIA agent, smuggled them to the Mujahideen. When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, their military was thoroughly defeated and the USSR was almost bankrupt. Some have said he won the Cold War!
For an early review of the movie click on the title above for a link to a review from "Worst Previews"
"Worst Previews" concluded it's review with the following:"
In Conclusion: This movie has something for everyone. It has a very serious message, as it examines the political quagmire in Afghanistan and the routes of global terror, but at the same time, it has so much fun reveling that message that you forget you are even watching a political thriller. It stars arguably the best male actor in Hanks, the best female actor in Roberts and probably the best supporting actor in Hoffman. This movie spans so many genres and appeals to such a huge variety of people that it just has no choice but to make a ton of money and win a lot of awards. It is one of those rare great movies; make sure you do not miss it!"
