Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street

[A Black Falcon]

How was Charlie Wilson's war?

Quite good. Interesting film... Charlie Wilson, in the House of Representatives and on a committee that sets the military budget (for secret operations), is the "hero" despite being a totally morally corrupt person (he's constantly drinking hard liquor, it's stated that he uses cocaine (though this is not shown), he goes to strip clubs in Vegas and isn't married or exactly sticking to one partner... (so of course he gets put on the House Ethics Commitee. :)

Despite what that might sound, it is a tough, serious film. It is, after all, about the Russian-Afghan War, which was essentially Russia's Vietnam. You leave the theater feeling down... it ends with Wilson trying to get money for rebuilding Afghanistan after Russia pulled out in the late '80s, but no one is interested in even a million dollars to build schools. We've won, who cares now? Well, they don't go out and say it, but everyone in the theater knows why we should have cared... (see: the rise of the Taliban shortly afterwards, the creation of Al Quaida, etc) Fascinating film though. The way that this one guy is pretty much all on his own able to get the money to arm the Afghan rebels to fight the Soviets is pretty interesting. It started with just $5 milliion dollars but reached $500 million by the end of the war...