I mentioned that I was reading 'Charlie Wilson's War' in my main blog, since then there have been a couple of things happen that made me want to write a fuller account of this excellent book. So here goes...

First of all, I am close to finishing the book itself, but also I happened to see the movie. Now usually I wouldn't do the two things at the same time, I would normally read the book then see the film (or vice versa). But the overall sense of the depth of the book made me realize that an hour and a half movie just wasn't going to do the story justice, and I knew that there would have to be a large amount of skating over the intricate plot and so film version would have to be quite different.

This proved to be absolutely correct, and please be aware that the movie is very little more than a dilution of the story of Charlie WIlson and Gust Avrakotos.

'Charlie Wilson's War' - The Movie - is a fine idea, but in a way it is rather like trying to render down The Lord of the Rings in to one film, so much has to be missed out that, in the end, much of the plot subtleties are completely missed. In particular it is the characters of Charlie and Gust and their backgrounds and make up that makes the book so compelling. The book introduces us to people that are so larger than life that - in the end - it is that these people exist at all that is the wonderment!

I also felt very sorry for Gust Avrakotos that he got the - in perhaps his words - the 'shitty' end of the stick when it came to cast member prominence! I found him a wonderful character, and all through the movie it is Gust that you feel is a character that needs to be let off the leash more. The title of the film and the book, sadly, consigned him to a secondary role - but if you read the book you will discover just how pivotal he actually was...

Philip Seymour Hoffman

That said, perhaps because he was the 'shadow warrior' that he was means that he would have been happy with this inconspicuous role. But, ironically, the actor consigned to play Gust was one of the better casting choices in the movie - Philip Seymour Hoffman is becoming one of my favourite Hollywood character actors. His penchant for playing rather idiosyncratic individuals made him an ideal Gust - Philip played the wonderfully skittish 'Scotty J' in 'Boogie Nights and his 'Capote' was spellbinding and won him an Oscar.

(Hoffman's role in 'Charlie Wilson's War' won him the only Oscar awarded out of the 14 nominations for this movie - that of ' Actor of the Year'.)

Of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as the other two main protagonists...Well, the least said the better. Although, in the movie's defence, I can maybe see what the producers were trying to do in matching two larger than life actors with two larger than life roles - though I personally found their on screen presence more distracting - perhaps the director hoped that their involvement would distract from the obviously shallow treatment of the subject matter?

To summarize - read the book! Please, please read the book!

If you are at all interested in military history or covert warfare, 'Charlie Wilson's War' is an outstanding story of political machinations, intrigue and double-dealings that will have you chuckling to yourself. The principal characters of Charlie and Gust are the spy version of the odd couple, and just like the original odd couple of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon it is their juxtaposed character flaws that ignite sparks of comic genius and pathos.

The movie version is superficial, character led where it shouldn't be (the choice of principal characters - except Hoffman) and - sadly - factually inaccurate in some of the footage shown as 'real' action sequences from the Afghan-Soviet War.

This movie truly is 'Charlie Wilson's War' Lite.

Interesting after notes:

As far as intrigues go, it's rather interesting to note that the political double-dealing and under the table scheming of the US in Afghanistan is far from over. Reading Janes Defence News today, one of the main topics reported was one regarding a funding, by US Congress, for the upgrading of Pakistan air force F16 fighters.

In the book of 'Charlie WIlson's War', the sale of F16s to Pakistan is one of the early issues which flavours the relationship between the US and Pakistan, and the American's mistrust of an Islamic state. However, Janes reports on a recent decision by the US to funnel Congressional funds to an upgrade and modernization program for the Pakistani F16s, the money being taken - controversially - for a pot designated for the 'war on terror'.

Reading between the lines, it looks like the Pakistanis have finally gotten their way - perhaps bartering the upgrade for some promises to use the F16 in the fight against insurgents in the Afghan-Pakistan boarder region. However, once again, we see American between a rock and a hard place where they are seen as supporting a very unpopular military regime in Pakistan in exchange for the Pakistanis co-operation in the war on terror.

Useful links:-

> IMDB entry for 'Charlie Wilson's War' (2007)
> Wikipedia entry for 'Charlie Wilson's War'
> Wikipedia: The Soviet war in Afghanistan