Two veteran American directors have this year proved they still have the right stuff to move their audiences.  Sidney Lumet had BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD released a few weeks back and Mike Nichols’ (THE GRADUATE, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and the recent CLOSER) latest entry this Christmas is a polished, sophisticated political comedy entitled CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR.  The film also boasts performances from three Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Julie Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman and a smart script by Aaron Sorkin (of the West Wing).  All are in top form in CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR.

Hanks plays the playboy Texan congressman, Charlie Wilson who engineers the covert funding of weaponry for the Afghanistan rebels that eventually led to the expulsion of the invaders.  His two unlikely conspirators are Houston socialite, Joanne Herring (Roberts) and an expert but maniacal CIA agent called Gust with a ‘T’ (Hoffman).

Nichols’ film is well strung together.  It begins with Congressman Wilson receiving recognition for his work done followed by the flashback of events (chronologically) leading to this segment.  Director Nichols introduces each character with a bang-on set-up, the best one being agent Gust’s.  This is a 5 minute segment in which he tells his boss the f-off the second time. 

One need not know much about American politics to enjoy CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR.  Nichols film is easy to follow and the film laid out with sufficient high points placed strategically at various parts of the film to create a welcome varied pacing.

At one point in the film, the Pakistan President Zia (Om Puri) brings Charlie and his aide, Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams) to the refugee camp to convince them of the enormity of the problem.  The way Nichols moves Charlie and the audience makes this movie.  Nichols begins small with shots of children with no limbs, followed by horror stories told by the Afghan refugees themselves.  Finally, the camera pans away from the where they are to reveal the hundreds and hundreds of make-shift tents.

Nichols works his audience well.  His film is at first sad and hilarious, then hilarious and scary finally settling down to downright scary.  All the while, he shows the glamour of American politics (Charlie says at one point: “I love America!”) while putting it down eventually towards the film’s end.  The frightening truth about the whole enterprise is that it is all happening again right now with the current U.S. situation, as the stars mention during recent interviews promoting the film.