I have a hard time imagining this isn't what politics is like inside the Beltway. Backdoor dealings for astronomical sums of money. Bait and switch tactics to lure the press away from the real news of what's actually happening to reports that are more sensationalistic. Parties and fundraisers that appear straightforward but that in fact have motives far deeper behind them. And, of course, coming up with a fantastic plan but forgetting to consider what to do after the plan has been implemented and accomplished.

It would be easy—too easy—to call Charlie Wilson's War a satire in the vein of Wag the Dog, but this is not a plausible flight of fanciful political dealings. Charles Wilson, US Congressmen from Texas for 23 years, existed, managed to appropriate almost $1 billion to covert ops, and helped the CIA get weapons to the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. His story was recorded in George Crile's 2004 book, and as a film, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Mike Nichols, it is detailed about political maneuvering in Washington, DC, and reminds us how eager our government is to aid the enemy of our enemy—just short of treating them as an ally, of course.

In 1980, Wilson (Tom Hanks) is at a party in Las Vegas with lots of alcohol, strippers, and cocaine, and a television producer who wants to make a show that's like "Dallas" but set in DC. He has a vote to take in Congress the next day, he laments to the strippers, and before the vote, he reads on the news wire about refugees fleeing Afghanistan. This strikes the congressman, who has an office full of pretty women, including his assistant Bonnie (Amy Adams) (His philosophy: "You can teach 'em to type, but you can't teach 'em to grow tits.").

As a member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, he makes a call to increase CIA funding for Afghanistan from $5 million to $10 million, after he deals with a Texas local who argues about the need for a nativity scene at a fire station and continues his affair with the man's daughter. Meanwhile, CIA officer Gust (not a typo) Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) really wants to fight the Soviets, but he has a bad temper (He breaks his boss' office window on two separate occasions). While "in the weeds," Gust hears about Wilson's funding and decides to pay the congressman a visit.