This is a factually-based drama centred on the titular American politician,
Charlie Wilson, outlining his role in America’s response to the Russian invasion
of Afghanistan in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Wilson is characterised in the opening
scenes as something of a “character” in the American Congress of the time. It
is made plain that he is exceptionally fond of attractive women and fine
whiskies and is a capable, knowledgeable, influential and powerful figure, but
with the capacity to address local “parish-pump” issues in enlightened ways.
For the lay person with even a passing interest
in current affairs there is much of interest here. Speaking broadly, Wilson’s story encapsulates the idea that
very large issues can be greatly influenced by small things. In the case of the
Afghani conflict it is the type of weaponry available to the Afghans. In Wilson’s story we also see how the correct
coincidence of circumstances can have a deciding influence on global political
issues. Given the current and more recent relations between America and Afghanistan, the events portrayed here have an
added relevance and resonance. Even if many will be already aware of the
general sequence of events, seeing them brought to life, as it were, in this
engaging, detailed and, one hopes, accurate way should be of additional
interest.
It is often apparent that the film is
attempting to fill in the background behind events previously portrayed on
actual news footage from the time, which many will find familiar. This pattern
begins in the film’s opening scenes, where Wilson watches news footage of Dan Rather
interviewing Afghanis. On other occasions, such documentary material is
regrettably more obtrusively interleaved with the main body of the film, which
can jar. Such footage serves a dual purpose, informing and moving the film
along as well as transporting the viewer back to the period of the film’s
setting. This latter purpose is also served by the music of the time that
features the soundtrack.
The settings presented are convincing for the
most part, with a single weak point being the initial visit of Wilson and co.
to an Afghani refugee camp where the “dramatic” incidental music, consisting of
pounding drums, is clearly being used to make up for the muted impact of the
images of the camp itself. Some of the film’s most visually exciting images
relate to military aircraft in combat, in particular the point-of-view
perspective from the window of the machine-gunner in combat mode.
It is difficult not to come away
from this film with a sense of the global influence of some of America’s social
elite, which is here, whether due to the prevailing social norms, or the norms
of the individuals themselves, occasionally accompanied by a hedonistic
dissipation in their personal lives. Of course, by extension, but not
explicitly expressed here, the elite of the film’s other superpower, Russia, and indeed of all countries, may
lead similar private lives. Whether this is true or not, the film, taken as a
whole, suggests that this almost casual influence of the elite on the lives of
the typical citizen and, perhaps most interestingly, on citizens in countries
far from one’s own borders, should not be underestimated.
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