Viewers who enjoyed Mike Nichols' feature film Charlie Wilson's War will likely get a kick out of this History Channel documentary covering the full spectrum of the Texas Congressman's life, including his famed efforts to funnel federal dollars to the Afghan mujahideen for their fight against Soviet military occupiers. Since his youth, Wilson was always more than a little colorful. As a teenager, he avenged the deliberate killing of his pet dog by a neighbor—a local politician—by arranging to drive poor African-Americans to the polls and encouraging them not to vote for a canine killer (a strategy that worked, to the shock of his vicious neighbor). As an adult, Wilson entered his first political race while still enlisted in the Navy, a blatant violation of military procedures (he wasn't disciplined and won the election to state office), after which he repeatedly blazed his own trails, despite the prevalent political mood of Texas (he was pro-choice and in support of the Equal Rights Amendment) and Washington (his support of the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza flew in the face of the Carter-era push to link human rights with foreign policy). But it was Wilson's purse string-pulling on behalf of the mujahideen that helped create the first crack in the Soviet hegemony in Afghanistan—although it also led to a power void that was later filled by the Taliban's Islamic theocracy (a lethal postscript downplayed here). While obviously not as stylishly tongue-in-cheek as the movie starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this nonfiction version is still an entertaining and compelling “true story” that is sure to be popular with fans of the feature film. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
The True Story of Charlie Wilson
(2007) 94 min. DVD: $19.95. The History Channel (avail. from most distributors). PPR. ISBN: 1-4229-0731-7. Volume 23, Issue 4
The True Story of Charlie Wilson
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: