Mike Nichols’ Charlie Wilson’s War
I don’t see God within a million miles of this. On the
other hand, if you slept with me I could change my
mind in a hurry.
— Philip Seymour Hoffman to Julia Roberts, Charlie
Wilson’s War
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
— Rudyard Kipling, “The Young British Soldiers”
Well into director Mike Nichols’ lubricious, high octane film on American covert action operations during Soviet Russia’s conflict in Afghanistan—widely considered the final battle of the Cold War—U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) asks Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) to “dial down the religion [and] stop tryin’ to convert everyone to Christianity.” Throughout the movie, Herring’s Protestant faith seems anomalous—a curious, unfashionable ... Read More...
