As I plan to be back on here Tuesday evening with NH Primary bloggin'-a-plenty, I will keep this relatively brief. More accurately I'll keep it brief because in the time between conception and actual blogging on this topic, another able blogger covered many of the same points already.
So let's talk about the trainwreck "feel good" hit of the winter, Tom Hanks' delightful Charlie Wilson's War. Leave aside the fact that I find Mr. Hanks and his grating aw-shucks-ain't-I-a-good-guy demeanor almost unbearable. Leave aside the fact that Julia Roberts' lips look like someone stapled two enormous millipedes to her face. Let's instead focus on the fact that this historical tale is somehow told as a charming, quirkly, feel-good story. It ends (caveat: I refuse to dignify this by paying to see it) with a mass of Afghan "freedom fighters" chanting Charlie Wilson's name, waving about their American-provided Stinger missiles, and gushing with love for the Red White and Blue.
Seriously.
My first reaction, the moment I first heard of this film (in the form of a trailer in the theater), was to turn to my film companion and say "Um, how are they going to get around the fact that those mujahadeen we armed to the teeth eventually became al Qaeda?" Apparently, I have now learned, the way they get around it is by ignoring it and ending the movie with a syrupy God Bless America pep rally.
Those radical Muslim "freedom fighters" (now known as Terrorists) sure do love America!
buy valtrex generic noprescriptionbuyonlinerxx.com over the counter
Roll the fucking credits! Quick! Before anyone starts asking questions!
Recasting alcoholic, ass-pinching lout Charlie Wilson as the lovable Tom Hanks (you know, that guy Tom Hanks is in every goddamn movie) was enough of a middle finger toward historical accuracy. Warping the American involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War into a tale of how hardcore Muslims came to love America is…well, it's just a bridge too far.