The Movie I Most Want To See – Charlie Wilson’s War

From today’s New York Times:

IT sounds like a surefire hit for the Christmas movie season: bosomy showgirls snorting cocaine in a Las Vegas hot tub. A rowdy, Scotch-guzzling hedonist splashing in there with them. Oh, he’s also a congressman. Then there’s a rogue C.I.A. operative. Big names on the marquee: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman. All this, and the story is true.

…“Charlie Wilson’s War” is not as didactic as many of the others and is set in a pre-9/11 world. Based on the late George Crile’s best seller, it is about a square-jawed Democratic congressman from Texas who used his seat on a military appropriations subcommittee during the 1980s to secretly steer more than a billion dollars to finance the mujahadeen rebellion in Afghanistan against the invading Soviet army.

…“Lions for Lambs,” despite Mr. Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, has brought in only $14.8 million so far domestically. And the box office for “Rendition” has stalled at less than $10 million. Meanwhile “In the Valley of Elah,” from Paul Haggis, the director of the Oscar-winning “Crash,” has made a paltry $6.8 million. And Brian De Palma’s “Redacted,” though just in a handful of theaters for three and a half weeks, has still made less than $63,000. (That’s not a misprint.)

The one movie that wrapped any of its political messages in a more conventional exterior, “The Kingdom,” performed much better. Yet this action-adventure buddy movie, with a budget of $70 million and starring Jamie Foxx, has captured less than $50 million at the domestic box office.

Here’s the true story behind the movie.