film - Charlie Wilson's War

If you've seen the previews, you seen a good portion of the film. However, the film is still very good.

Charlie Wilson is a do-nothing congressman. He gets prodded into supporting the concept of arming the Afghan rebels who are fighting against the brutal and immoral Soviet Army. Some of the acts of violence the Soviets use to kill the Afghanis is downright despicable and evil.

The most important part of the film comes at the end. It was echoed when the first President Bush refused to topple Saddam Hussein in the war to liberate Kuwait. Iraqui rebels were encouraged to rise up against Saddam and they believed that the mighty US military would help them. There was no help from the US and the abandoned rebels were slaughtered by Saddam.

All around, the acting is excellent. Tom Hanks was strong as they skirt-chasin' congressman who collectively referred to his staff of beauties as "jailbait." Julia Roberts was good in her role as a headstrong wealthy Texan hellbent on seeing the Soviets defeated. Witness the shocking intro to one of her speeches in which she is toasting the dictator/ President of Pakistan who was responsible for killing off the Oppostition leader, the father of future PM Benazir Bhutto. The audience was stunned. Unfortunately, Roberts looked terrible in this film, and seemingly appears to look like Joan Rivers' twin, in about 30 years, if not sooner. She may or may not have had a lot of plastic surgery, but she looks like she could play The Joker.

One of the best roles was played by Phil Hoffman as a CIA operative who mouths off to his boss in such a brilliant way near the outset of the film that I half expected the audience to stand up and cheer.