Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) — watch online on iFILM this sharp political dramedy directed by Mike Nichols. Tom Hanks plays Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, a hard-drinking DC fixture who somehow held the keys to the largest covert operation in CIA history.

Late 1970s: Soviet gunships are levelling Afghan villages, and Wilson decides that's his problem to fix. He builds an unlikely team with burned-out CIA agent Gust Avrakotos — Philip Seymour Hoffman, ferociously funny and utterly world-weary — and Houston socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts). Together they route hundreds of millions of dollars to Afghan rebels through Congressional back channels nobody thought to watch.

Aaron Sorkin adapted George Crile's investigative book into a screenplay full of razor dialogue and quiet dread. The film plays as a political comedy right up until it doesn't. Stream Charlie Wilson's War in full online on iFILM.