Adam 7
Charlie Wilson's Wanger (and it's HUGE impact on humanity)
March 13th 2008 19:32
So supposedly there's this guy Charlie Wilson, and he's a senator of some arbitrary state in the US way back in the rockin' 1980s. This 'review' (c) The Compassionate Cynic.
A so-called senator (Tom Hanks) manages to engage recreationally in global policy and maintain his professional philandering in a fantasy world somewhere in the long-distant 20th century.
Accompanied by his sidekick, the disgruntled Recreational Spook (Philip Seymour Hoffman) they wage war on a fantasy enemy using fantasy taxpayer money with the rational justification that this seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.
Unfortunately for them they were unaware of the fantasy Menacing Ideology's propensity to self-destruct from within and thus thwart their juvenile idealism by causing massive fantasy socio-economic and ideological fallout all over the unsuspecting fantasy planet and its population. Ultimately, the fantasy is revealed to both characters and they relax, safe in this knowledge.
Could this shocking series of events have transpired in 'real life'?
The film asserts that it may well have, by subtly insinuating that the basis of it's plot lies in factual events.
However, The Cynic recently partook in the viewing of a BBC documentary that informed him in an authoritative British accent that events took place a little differently, making no mention of a Charlie Wilson...
But wait! Of course in the film the senator functions Covertly! Obviously, this is a masterful obfuscation of fact by literary means. Writer Aaron Sorkin is known for his left-wing television lunacy (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), and doubtless could not reject the opportunity to wave his long left finger at the corruption that seems eternally inherent in right-wing politics (a statement which, of course, cannot be disputed).
As much of a fairy tale as it potentially is, 'Charlie Wilson's War' manages to pull off some impressive social commentary, and as coherent as it's no doubt heart-warming message is, it enabled The Compassionate Cynic to feel both compassion and cynicism, as is the norm.
To Conclude:
Whether or not the meta-irony regarding truth and distortion of facts was intentional, this film receives the coveted Quantum Thumb State* rating.
*whereby the thumb is in both 'up' and 'down' thumb-states simultaneously.
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Comment by Harry
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Brisbane Diarystar
I didn't mind Charlies war -- if not just for the girls in the spa.
Comment by The Compassionate Cynic
The Quantum State Thumb Rating System(tm) is free for non-commercial AND commercial use by everyone due to it's remarkable potential as a Rating System.
So yeah, it's propagation is inevitable.