"Charlie Wilson's War" - any reviewers out there?

[babylonsister]

It's coming up on HBO and I don't remember how this was received when it first was released. Thanks.

[Mari333]

1. oh hell yes good movie

really good.

[babylonsister]

4. Sold! Thanks. nt

[RollWithIt]

2. In my opinion, the movie doesn't do the book any favors. The book was far more detailed...

They just turned it into a hollywood drama. They even took out the end of the book where he sat on his Washington balcony and watched the smoke of the Pentagon on 9/11. And almost all of the parts where he begged for funding into Afghanistan and was laughed at.

[babylonsister]

3. Books usually are better, but I don't have the book, so this will work.

Thanks!

[Hekate]

15. I'm a book reader, but film is a different medium with different imperatives...

Only a few books have such an adamant fan base that *everything* needs to be included -- LOTR and Harry Potter are the only ones I can think of off hand, and even there the directors had to cut some parts and move some things around.

Charlie Wilson's War stands as a good film, imo.

Hekate

[BanzaiBonnie]

5. It's a really good movie

Enlightening.

[Buzz Clik]

6. Really? Off to the TiVO!

[Captain Hilts]

7. Brilliant movie about how things get done in DC. nt

[panader0]

8. I haven't seen the movie

but I saw the documentary on History (I think). What a story! The real guy is too much.

[pnwmom]

9. Good movie! But, for future reference, are you familiar with the site,

www.rottentomatoes.com

They compile movie reviews there, so you can see a bunch of reviews at one site.

[babylonsister]

14. No, I wasn't. Thanks! nt

[mahina]

10. Illuminating, well written, well made,

and damned useful background info. Enjoy.

[Hekate]

11. By coincidence I watched it on DVD today while stuffing my post-TG turkey....

It's a very good film, witty and worldly-wise and intelligent. The very end comes as a shock, even if we do remember our recent history (which Bush and the rest obviously don't, or we wouldn't be in the mess we are in).

I enjoyed it in the theater, so bought it for home viewing later. Enjoy!

Hekate

[Arctic Dave]

21. When Hanks and Hoffman have their conversation on the balcony

at the end of the movie is an erie starting point for todays "new" problems.

[Hekate]

24. All that money for war, and they couldn't even get a million for schools afterward...

When the US went into Afghanistan this time around I thought of two things: public schools for all kids, but especially girls, and subsidies for farmers so they wouldn't have to fall back on opium.

The schools should have been self-evident: a way to educate kids up to the 21st century so their world would be larger than their village and tribe -- and it would have helped for our soldiers to be seen guarding them, not to mention the "This Is A Gift From America" on the books and supplies. How grateful most people would have been to us. The former religious government was all about suppressing meaningful education for boys and enslaving women without any education at all.

The farmers-- Afghanistan is dry and rocky, and it's difficult to farm. Opium grows well under those conditions, and brings in lots more money than anything else. The mujaheddin had suppressed opium cultivation, but the farmers (no fools they) hid bags of seeds under the floors. I think it was the NYT that reported that the average farm family lives on less than $10,000 a year, a lot less. I thought to myself, Why doesn't the Bush admin subsidize farmers so they aren't tempted/forced to fall back on opium? But by the next year addicts were moving to cities along the borders...

When I saw the movie, the end was a shock to me. I didn't know we had actually had the exact same chance before, and blew it.

Hekate

[Arctic Dave]

25. I think when we look back on the nightmare that was the * administration

woulda, coulda, shoulda is going to be the cornerstones of the bush legacy.

[Hekate]

30. From a money proposition alone it would have been incredibly cheap compared to an endless war...

... of attrition. Instead the Bushites tossed in a few feel-good projects -- and abandoned them.

Hekate

:argh:

[Arctic Dave]

35. Like father, like son.

[11 Bravo]

12. I loved it! Funny, irreverent, AND enlightening.

[liberal N proud]

13. A lot of good stuff in that movie

It will make you hunger to find out how we got involved in Afghanistan and why we are losing.

[dysfunctional press]

16. i won't see it, because it would be so extremely frustrating...

and just bring the anger back to the surface, and after i've worked so hard on getting past the rage- about the act itself, as well as billy-bob clintoon for letting the fuckers skate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. It's good

But when you read up on the history and find out what the movie doesn't tell you, you will be pissed off.

[TomInTib]

18. That is your town's Lynn Sakowitz Wyatt portrayed in the movie.

I think dear old Oscar is in the Big House for a while.

[AlCzervik]

19. It's worth watching just for Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Fangirl.

[MinM]

20. Hoffman’s spot-on portrayal of a quintessential CIA operative steals the show

Review of 'Charlie Wilson's War'
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/122007a.html

http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/pretty-women-the-cia-and-somalian-pirates/

[shadowknows69]

22. I enjoyed it greatly.

[lennytee]

23. Charlie Wilson - the Real Deal..

The movie was very entertaining, but didn't begin to approach the Charlie Wilson I know. I had the honor and pleasure of volunteering in several of Charlie's congressional campaigns years ago. Not only is he the "Real Deal" he's just a great guy. I saw him several months ago at the Lufkin Mall. Hadn't seen him him years, but I walked up to him, shook his hand and he called me by my first name. The years and miles have taken their toll on him, but there will always be a place in my heart for Charlie Wilson.

[XOKCowboy]

33. I saw the History Channel bio of him..

He seemed actually just like the guy I'd want to be my congressman. He did dodge the question about snorting coke but he did it with a laugh. I also liked the way he got started in politics.

[FarCenter]

26. "The Bear Trap : The Defeat of a Superpower" by Mohammed Yousaf is better

Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf was in Pakistan's ISI.

His book is written from a Pakistani viewpoint.

It used to be available free online, but appears to now be available only as a book.

http://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Bear-Trap-Defeat-Superpower/dp/0971170924

Product Description

How did the horrendous situation in Afghanistan, with all its implications for recent events and the present time, come to pass? What was the role of the CIA and Pakistani intelligence in the creation of what became the Taliban? What are the implications for the future and lessons from the past for American forces today?

This highly controversial book reveals one of the greatest military, political and financial secrets of recent times. It is nothing less than the true, if fantastic, account of how Pakistan and the USA covertly controlled the largest guerrilla war of the 20th Century, dealing to the Soviet Russian presence in Afghanistan a military defeat that has come to be called 'Russia's Vietnam'.

This compelling book, put together with great skill by the military author, Mark Adkin, is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Soviets' Vietnam, and the reasons why, to this day, the war in Afghanistan still drags on despite the victory that the Mujahideen were denied when the Soviets withdrew. ?

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. We'll see

"This little boy, on his 14th birthday is given a horse. Everyone in the village says, 'How wonderful the boy got a horse,' but the Zen master says, 'We'll see.' Two years later the boy falls off the horse and breaks his leg and everyone in the village says, 'How terrible.' The Zen master says, 'We'll see.' Then, war breaks out and all the young men have to go out and fight except the boy can't because his leg's all messed up and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful!"

"And the Zen master says, "We'll see."

Much better than I expected, It seems we haven't learned anything since the Marshall Plan.

[babylonsister]

28. That was great. I hope we're about to learn something. nt

[XOKCowboy]

29. I really liked the ending...

when Gus told Charlie that he's stepped into a shit storm and Charlie lobbying for schools for the Afghans. It's the irony of Charlie Wilson's War.

BTW I loved the movie.

[Zomby Woof]

31. 2 things

Aaron Sorkin can write a script.

And Philip Seymour Hoffman can act his ass off.

[XOKCowboy]

32. Tom Hanks??

You can plug him into any script and he comes through every time.

[Zomby Woof]

34. I like Hanks just fine

But the two things I listed are the cream of the movie.