Charlie Wilson's War

Probably more aptly titled 'A Demonstration of the Law of Unintended Consequences'. The movie stars Tom Hanks (impersonating a young Robert Vaughan in his 'Man from U.N.C.L.E' period), Julia Roberts as a surprising born-again Christian Republican socialite and Philip Seymour Hoffman with a bravura performance as a C.I.A. agent. Tom Hanks is the eponymous Charlie Wilson, a Congressman for an obscure Texan district, who is an unorthodox politician to say the least. Whilst enjoying a relaxing Las Vegas hot tub he suddenly gets converted to the notion of helping the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan to oust the Soviet invaders. Through his membership of an influential House committee and with the assistance of Roberts' Joanne Herring he sets up a bizarre alliance of Israeli arms dealers, Egypt, Saudi and Pakistani governments and covertly supplies the predecessors of the Taliban to destroy the soviet army, and despite the opposition of the mainstream US security forces. In many ways this is a surprisingly funny film - with plenty of one liners and ludicrous scenes - made more incredible because this is a film based on fact. The irony is, of course, that once the Russian army withdrew, so was the aid from the American government - so no reconstruction, no support for democracy, and the necessary vacuum that has resulted in the Afghans suffering two decades of conflict. Rating 8/10