365 Days. 365 Films.

This is a true story about Charlie Wilson’s contribution to one of the largest every CIA operations to supply Afghanistan with military weapons to fight the Soviet Union in their war. Tom Hanks stars as Wilson in this adaptation of his work as a Texas congressman which turns out to be a very funny and enjoyable movie.

This is not, as you expect from the plot, a war film as such, nor is it a particularly serious film about a country’s struggles for freedom, but it is more about Wilson himself; a light-hearted and fun-loving man trying to help a then deprived country. What surprised me about this film is that Julia Roberts was brilliant. This is not to say that she is a bad actress – I don’t believe that at all – but not since Erin Brokovich have I actually thought she was anything more than “pretty good”. She does tend to play the same character and there is rarely anything special about her performance, however I do think that she played her character in this film with a lot of depth; she really brought her to life in this.

Whether you know anything about politics, religion, war or history, this film is well worth a watch – not unmissable, but definitely a great film.