Heroes of the Zeroes: Charlie Wilson's War

Heroes of the Zeroes is a daily, alphabetical look back at the 365 best films from 2000 to 2009.

"Charlie Wilson's War" Rated R 2007 In 2007, even casual news junkies knew where Kabul sat on the map. But in a 1980s era of Teletypes — long before terrorism’s permanent stamp on American life — Kabul easily could’ve been mistaken for a city in Uzbekistan or even India.

Congressman Charlie Wilson turned Afghanistan into his mission — inspiration striking while naked in a Vegas hot tub surrounded by strippers and cocaine.

Mike Nichols’ 2007 film told a chronologically cautionary tale of political playmaking amid international tensions. A playboy politician (Tom Hanks), a rich Texan belle (Julia Roberts) and a misanthropic CIA agent named Gust (Philip Seymour Hoffman) collaborated to increase America’s aid to Afghanistan’s Russia-fighting rebels by almost 10,000 percent.

Aaron Sorkin electrically condenses George Crile’s book into 98 efficient minutes of acidic humor, sobering reality and off-book operations, pitched more as a farcical comedy than a forceful condemnation.

There’s nothing covert about Hoffman burgling the film, though. However, to Gust, each profane, unfiltered rant serves as serious commentary. That proves crucial once the long-term ramifications of pumping money and missiles into a hostile region piece together. After all, there is a reason we all now know so much about Kabul.

As a power play against a seemingly eternal Soviet enemy, Wilson had his peers’ ears. But once the state-sponsored revolution was televised, the luster came off, and we know where those good intentions led. “War’s” chilling end-quote succinctly sums up how ideology, infantry and political disinterest have come back to haunt our nation.