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Charlie Wilson's War OVERVIEWLanguages: English/Dari Country of Origin: USA DVD Release: April 22, 2008 Distributor: Universal Pictures Running Time: 97 Minutes MPAA Rating: R for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use Genre: Drama Academy Award® nomination: Best Supporting Actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman CAST & CREW Writer: Aaron Sorkin Director: Mike Nichols Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks Executive Producers: Celia D. Costas, Ryan Kavanaugh, Jeff Skoll Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty, Emily Blunt SYNOPSIS Charlie Wilson’s War shows how one congressman who loved a good time, one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one renegade CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest US covert operation in history, the Afghanistan-Soviet conflict. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. Oscar® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile’s best-selling book to the screen. Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His “Good Time Charlie” exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan—which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians. Charlie’s longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist. Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters). Charlie’s partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together, the three of them—Charlie, Joanne and Gust—travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer. Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, “Charlie did it.”
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