About the Soundtrack: Released by Varese Sarabande, "Charlie Wilson's War" is one of the many late-2007 scores by James Newton Howard and he seems to have saved some of the best material of the year for this score. The soundtrack runs at a relatively brief length and reminded me of some of the label's late 1990's releases. However, to be fair, there isn't a lot of score material in the film so this was the best representation one could have hoped for with the soundtrack.
What You Need to Know: "Charlie Wilson's War" brings us the best 2007 theme from Howard as he created a warm and likeable melody for the title character. It's briefly used but it book-ends the soundtrack (and film) extremely well. In the middle, that is where the adventure unfolds.
For a short running time, this is quite a varied effort. The score offers music that represents the country life that Wilson comes from in Texas but also takes us halfway across the globe to the middle east. In some respects, one might be tempted to compare this effort to Howard's "Hidalgo" with such a combination at work but the two scores are quite different. For one, this isn't an adventure score, rather, it's a fairly intimate, diversified effort. This album ranges from plucky bars of southern hospitality to exotic middle east persuasions, all in the span of a few minutes. It's a small world after all.
The starring cue of the soundtrack is easily track 7, which takes an approach of Christianity meeting Islam. Howard's originality is on full display with this rendition as he uses middle east percussions behind choral tones of Christian music to create an inspiring, uplifting segment of music that shines both on the film and on the album. The montage in the film depicts the rallying forces in Afghanistan turning the tide against the Russians and I couldn't imagine a better tact than by using music like this. My highest compliments to the composer for this bit of writing.
After listening to this score and comparing it to some of the others that Howard recently delivered, I can't help but get the sense that he was a little more invested with this film. Consciously or not, when you put a great cast and story together, you'll get a better output from the composer, which is definitely the case here.
Final Grade: It's short but sweet; "Charlie Wilson's War" is a commendable effort by James Newton Howard and I think it is his best work of the year (2007). The only deterrence is the brief amount of music that's available on the soundtrack so I would recommend you buy it from a download site as opposed to being $19 at a retail store. Besides that, happy listening!
