Charlie Wilson's War (possible spoilers)

[Writer]

For those who've seen it: so what did you think about it? I thought it was a fantastic movie.

[AngryAmish]

1. Spoiler: The Soviets leave Afganistan

[RainDog]

2. eh

I thought it was a little loose with history, as in the consequences of rich Texas asshole fundies deciding to "save" the world and creating the taliban. that was a great outcome for females.

also, Emmanuel Todd predicted the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1970s because their economic system would fail from its own inner contradictions...because they were an educated populace...b/c the ratio of educated females and children was such that previous societies demonstrated the system would fail.

At the time Todd was evaluating the world scene, the powers-that-be in the U.S. were advocating more expensive mil. hardware to "contain" them. Then, when the fall occurred, Reagan, el al took credit for something that really wasn't their doing. I know the bleed them dry/Vietnam strategy gets credited for making it happen sooner, but...

the guy who wrote the book about Wilson also noted that the americans were so stupid that they thought soviet soldiers would defect to the mujahadeen. uh, don't think so, because the soldiers knew that their comrades were taken as sex slaves and raped by these holy men. - but the americans were so sure the soviets all hate their govt and the U.S. offered them... the mujahadeen.

in fact, that last paragraph is sort of a recurring theme.

also, the story acts like the U.S. doesn't also bomb people out of their villages (oops, Fallujah) and kill children and displace families for their own military ends.

I find it is amazing that Americans have this ability to lie to themselves to such a degree that it's dangerous for the rest of the world. The movie perpetuates the myth, and doesn't take into account the U.S. interests in the Afghan natural gas, or the drug money the CIA got from the war lords there to use on covert ops.

...which also leads into the issue of the Iraq/Iran war and arming both sides...

but, other than that, it was okay.

[RainDog]

3. didn't mean to kill the thread. sorry

it's not like I'm opinionated or anything...

[bertha katzenengel]

4. Excellent. I can't believe the wise ones behind the Golden Globes

categorized this as a comedy. Some humorous lines and situations don't make a comedy. I wept when at the end of the film Wilson was begging for a mere million dollars for a school. Our system is so fucked that Congress will deny such funding just because a sponsor has spent all his personal vote-buying capital. Or even out of spite.

[huskerlaw]

5. I thought it was very well done

but I absolutely disdain both Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, which kept me from really liking it.

Interestingly, I saw it with my very Republican (and still Bush-loving) mother, and she also liked it. Though we got into a fight when discussing the fallout...aka, how our leaving Afghanistan was the main (if not sole) reason for the rise of OBL.