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 enlarge | Director: Mike Nichols
Actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $3.93
You Save: $26.05 (87%)
New (63) Used (45) Collectible (2) from $3.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  142 reviews
Sales Rank: 695
Format: Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 102
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: MCAD61100566D
UPC: 025195004848
EAN: 0025195004848
ASIN: B0013XZ2QK
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 2.5 stars: Where is the political passion? December 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Charlie Wilson's War has a lot of things going for it: Mike Nichols behind the camera, Aaron Sorkin writing the screenplay, a great cast spearheaded by Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and a true story as its inspiration. So why does it all feel so unengaging and dull? I was expecting a tightly paced, funny, smart and above all, passionate movie about one man who played a major role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Hanks stars as the title character, a Texas congressman who raises funds and provides weapons for the Afghanastans in their battle with the Soviets in the 80's. He can't raise the money through the appropriations cmmittee he serves on, so he sets about covertly funding the Afghan's war via a pact with Israel and Pakistan, the fundraising of a right wing aristocrat (Julia Roberts) and the insights of a jaded CIA operative (Hoffman).
There's lots of talking and walking (Sorkin trademarks), but you never feel involved in the political wheelings and dealings. You're relegated to the role of an observer. The movie never conveys the sense of urgency and the need to do something that Wilson apparently felt after visiting an Afghan refugee camp. The only times that the movie comes to life is when Hoffman is on camera. His cynical yet canny operative is tough, funny and smart and he happily joins Wilson's efforts.
I'm not sure how much fudging of history the movie did, but it really doesn't matter because you never feel any sense of purpose or accomplishment from Wilson, and likewise you don't really feel his frustration when he realizes that the endgame gets completely messed up. Surely a movie delaing with events of this magnitude could have stirred up some sort of reaction. Not so much, as it turns out.
 SOCIALITES, CONGRESS, COVERT OPS, AND AFGHAN GUTS December 18, 2008
This is a great film. Ignore the annoying bits at the beginning of the DVD.
The 1980's politics, the characters, the CIA, and the Soviet-Afghan-US-Israeli-Saudi-Pakistani-Egyptian war make a story that really could not convince if made up. It would read as a very overblown Frederick Forsyth or John Grisham novel. As it is, the whole thing bears repeat watching very well.
The dialogue is really very sharp in places, and the slight element of bad language is artistically justified for once. The pace is right - not frantic, not slushy. We had just the right amount of scene-setting in the hot tub with the ladies, and partying in the office with the nubile-yet-competent aides ("That's why you're the press secretary Boo-Boo!") Just the right combination of actual macho-CIA and prissy office-wallah CIA careerist. Just the right of amount of blowing up the commie helicopter gunships, commies strafing civilians, the Afghans fighting back and tanks being terminated. Really great footage - my favourite part. The acting is just professional - not overblown, no weak members. Tom Hanks looks genuinely drunk and morose and alone in one or two scenes. Julia Roberts still has life in her yet...and there was some guy called Gus in it. I forget what he did.
Apparently they changed history. Well, I remember the whole of that war as seen via British media and I got about 1% of the true picture. Not that I ever trusted any of them, then or now. (OK, OK, FoxNews is good. The exception that proves the rule.) Well, I suppose I just have to get the book now.
I have three copies of this film and I saw it at the cinema. (Two copies are for Christmas presents - I like to give educational films as presents.) Remember, the truth is always politically incorrect - that is all the explanation you need for understanding why this film did not get the press it deserved.
Buy this DVD, buy it right now. Buy two.
Charlie Wilson's War - movie (US History) December 15, 2008
I recommend this movie as a well paced historical drama with humorous undertones and a solid plot with interwoven intrigue. The DVD retells a story involving historical events during the time of the Afghan War being fought by the USSR (Russians). The US CIA involvement bolstered by one Congressman turned the course of that war and significantly impacted Soviet history. Though fictionalized to be palatable to movie audiences, it is told with the real characters and events involved and with a balanced mix of humor and seriousness that drives home points of US world affairs policy to the audience. I have used select movies to educate students, a break from sometimes dry textbooks, and create the necessary emotional buy-in to have students remember concepts (and facts). This is one movie I would use for that and do recommend to friends especially with family involvement or interest in the Mideast.
 An Interesting Look at Government December 9, 2008
Outstanding performances that provides an interesting look at the US political and bereaucratic factors that helped finance the resistance. It was fascintating to view how the forces at work planned and prompted Washington to manufacture the expulsion of Soviet Troops from Afghanistan through various networks involving Capitol Hill and the Central Intelligence Agency. The movie ended with such a truthful but sour note where the US government failed to follow through with providing assistance to Afghanistan, leaving the viewer with what might have been if it had.
What I did not appreciate was the pervasive portrayal of religious people as being hypocritical and not living out their professed faith. One wonders did Mr. Wilson truly associate with church goers who did not live out what they believed and engaged in such lewd and sexualy immoral acts or was it the screenwriter's and/or the director's personal gripe against Christianity that decided to depict Christians in such an unfavorable light. Everyone who professed some affilation with the Christian faith whether Baptist or Greek Orthodox were portrayed thus. Had the dvd a director's commentary I would have loved to find out more about the story behind the story.
 distortion December 4, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
good acting and a funy story are used to rewrite history. sad and dangerous. the US was the first in Afghanistan, before the Russians. The Russians were asked by the Afghan government to help them stop the civl war. the Afghan government who was asking the Russians for help were another three years in power after the Russians left Afghanistan. After this, a real messy civil war started (no time for building schools), and then the Taliban took over. That's the true story, but we might just forget this with these kind of movies. There were many atrocities committed by the US in the 80's and 90's, and this was one of the biggest.
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