Charlie Wilson's War Analysis

The Universal Pictures film Charlie Wilson’s War (Nichols, 2007) tells the story of a Congressman from the state of Texas and his involvement with covert actions in the Middle East. Charlie Wilson was not necessarily the most influential man in Washington, D.C. at the time, but throughout the movie his roles in Congress seemed to expand. The film covers the paramilitary covert action of supplying weapons to Afghanistan during their war with the Soviet Union. Charlie Wilson is a key component that initially urges the covert action into existence; He also oversees the action until its end in 1989. Key characters in the film include a coarse Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer named Gust Avrakotos and a wealthy right-winged socialite named Joanne Herring. Together the main characters worked in formation to help covertly supply and arm Afghan rebels and eventually defeat the Soviet Union.
The film starts out showing a little bit more of Charlie Wilson’s crass side as he sips champagne in a hot tub with naked women. Charlie seemed preoccupied with the news rather then paying much attention to the women or the movie pitch his friend was presenting. The news story that enthralled Charlie …show more content…
The United States had been involved the Cold War with the Soviet Union since just after WWII and continually looked for new ways to limit their reach. The Cold War brought a new set of problems to the United States because of the way it would be fought. The battlefront for a majority of the Cold War would be fought through proxy wars, in other words one side would fight an enemy sponsored by the other. Some of the wars that were fought directly included the Vietnam War; with the United States fighting against the communist supported Vietnamese government; and in the case of this film the USSR invading Afghanistan (Hough,