Charlie Wilson's War - Zen master and the little boy

You could apply this easily to the current Presidential election.

I heard this story of theZen master on “Northern Exposure”!

“The era of Soviet intervention in other countries is now over.”Someone forgot to tell PUTIN.

I came here today because I had something turn from tragedy to joy to tragedy to joy all in one day...

Never noticed the plane during the pause after charlie realizes what a problem afghanistan may be if not followed up with

I can't believe he's been gone for 10 years.

I knew a guy JUST like Gus. He even had a sensitive job. Super smart.

He was trying to tell Charlie that the russians weren't the problem anymore. The people we just helped defeat them by arming and training were the new issue and they were fast becoming a huge fuckin problem. Gust knew, nobody listened. Wtc 93, uss Cole, Tanzania, 9-11....it progressively became more brazen and worse with every attack.

Bluey brought me here

After all these years…Bluey brought me back here….

If the US simply listened to his advice, about restocking sheep, giving education etc. Al Qaeda would not have existed, and 9/11 probably would have never happened. To bad they did not follow the instruction of the Zen master.

They should have let the Russians have that shithole.

A movie about how our money is stolen from us (taxation) and spent on nonsense.

Such a great movie. So many people haven't even heard of it!

American fights and wins wars. When it comes to winning the peace thats when we fail.

'The crazies are rolling into Kandahar like a bathtub drain'. One of the things that made this such a good film.

Hmmm, so the choices are: willingly interfere in a war thousands of miles away from any allies, in a place known as the graveyard of empires, fund radical Islamic groups with advanced weaponry so they can fight the second most enlightened and progressive government they’ve had in centuries, all for the sake of pissing off your adversary, then, after you succeed in this aim, you must continually fund the shattered remains of progressivism in the hopes that it deters the crazies which as you’ve just proven, were only deterred through massive military force, and if you don’t do this eventually they’ll lease their territory as a base for other crazies who want to send your civilization into a death spiral.


…

…

…

OR

We could have not interfered.

Man that’s one tough choice.

They should have listened to Gus.

My world changed on November 13th, 2008 in Kandahar.... "We'll see"

Its sad the way it ended after getting rid of Russia from Afghanistan . Its a real Kobyashi Maru - a no win .

Brilliant

I won't blame the Wright Brothers for Pearl Harbor because we could have done more during the intervening 30 years.

The fact he was talking about crazies rolling into Kandahar while a jetliner was roaring in the background gave me chills.

As has been said…….We won the war but lost the peace.

I didn’t get to go to war because I had terrible asthma. I tried joining the CIA about a dozen times and they knew right away I was radioactive trash. Thank God for both. I ended up marrying a soldier a few years out of Ed college and being married military spouse put it all into perspective for me. I still don’t understand any of it except for that it might be a commodity shit show.

How many tens of thousands of innocent people died because some egoistic maniac thought arming the Jihadis to fight the Soviets was a good idea….

And 20 years after we did just what Ghust directed Joey B handed the country back over to the Taliban.
Lesson learned. No level of clean water projects and schools will change a backwards fundamentalist country.

The sound of the jets in this scene aren't foreshadowing - its a reference. this movie came out AFTER 9/11.

Soooo..... not only did the demoncrats create a bigger problem in Afghanistan, but the peanut farmer also ruined Iran. I am amazed at how stupid this party can be especially with foreign policy.

This scene should be replayed at every military college in America.

The sound of the airplane foreshadowing 9/11. Fuck me this movie is underrated.

This scene still gives me chills. The passing jet. Holy shit. The US created the taliban and trained OBL. Every elected official should be required to watch this movie.

I constantly reference the zen master story to people

Typical.Plenty of Money for Wars.
But build an infrastructure and schools farms to feed people. OOOOOPS ?!
WE lost the check book, and we'll come to
fight for our version of Freedom ?

This character, Phillip played, is easily one of the most sobering characters in film.

Yeah, the sound of the plane...definitely. But that brief shot of Hoffman throwing Hanks' drink into the plant a few seconds before is brilliant. Someone's drink is thrown away at a party? Nine times out of ten, someone gets a drink thrown in their FACE. But here, it's the audience who has a drink thrown in their face, the "drink" of Sorkin's snazzy dialogue and Nichols' elegant direction that we've been enjoying up to this point. It's the visual equivalent of a needle scratch across a record. Like Wilson, we're momentarily sober. Suddenly, we're watching and listening to everything completely differently. The sound of a plane becomes more than the sound of a plane.

"You're not stupid, you're just in Congress." Epic. Epicccccccc.

When is the American one ending?

Nature and Power abhor a vacuum.

Hoffman was such a great actor. Sorry he is no longer with us. But this role was clearly one of his best.

This story/scene is so addicting. Ever since watching the movie i can’t help but reference the story of the Zen Master

Charlie Wilson was a useful idiot. Now we have a new bunch of them doing the same thing in Ukraine.....

Him taking the fucking drink and dumping it out is what makes this scene...and the look Hanks gives him.

The story of the Chinese farmer. Love the tao.

What a pair of superb actors. RIP Philip!

Welcome to my world

And then Charlie Wilson discovered there's always money for war but never any for rebuilding 😢