As promised I bought the DVD of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" on Tuesday, the day it was released on DVD. I haven't had time to watch the movie, (I saw it at the theater at Christmas) but last night while I was doing our laundry I watched the "Special Features" of the DVD which consisted of a documentary "On the Making of "Charlie Wilson's War" and a documentary on the real Congressman Charlie Wilson's efforts in Congress to get appropriations to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. The documentary featured the real Charlie Wilson played by Tom Hanks in the movie. It also feature the real Joanne Herring played by Julia Roberts in the movie. On first blush it appears that Julia Roberts played her role "over the top" but after seeing the interviews with Joanne Herring she was "dead on!"
The movie was directed by Mike Nichols (Diane Sawyer's Husband for you young folks) and I believe it's his best movie since "The Graduate." The Graduate is superior only because of it's Simon and Garfunkel sound track.
As the documentary points out the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War began with the Soviet's defeat in Afghanistan. We owe a big thanks to Charlie Wilson and the Texas socialite, Joanne Herring, who encouraged him.
We should also not forget Gust Avrakotos (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) a blue collar CIA agent who did more to defeat the Soviets than most of the ivy league bureaucrats as the CIA.
