Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are back. The pair have a history of working together. You’re probably aware they have collaborated before as actor/director, but this is actually their fourth movie together. Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and The Terminal (2004) were the others. With Bridge of Spies, the two are truly in their element.
American James B. Donovan is an insurance lawyer. He’s appointed to defend Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a man arrested as a Soviet spy. His peers in the Brooklyn Bar Association have chosen Donovan for this thankless task. He assisted in the 1945 Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals so it’s not completely out of left field. The time is 1957 at the height of the Cold War and American hatred toward communists is at a fever pitch. Which is why now, more than ever, Abel must receive the appearance of an equitable trial. Donovan takes his responsibility very seriously much to everyone’s surprise. This includes the judge, the prosecuting attorney, his firm, even his own family. His efforts to seek acquittal are roundly greeted with anger and derision.
Tom Hanks personifies the lawyer as a do-gooding crusader, not unlike Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, another idealist. The thing is, the government’s case against Abel is overwhelming and indisputable. The fact that the evidence points to the defendant’s guilt in this incident is kind of beside the point. Everyone deserves a fair trail. The noble campaign in defending an unpopular defendant is similar. Tom Hanks exudes dignity and class as an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances His unfailing commitment to doing the right thing, despite widespread opposition, is almost too good to be true. And yet he radiates such sincerity that Hanks captures our empathy where we warmly embrace this man. We champion his cause, if not his client.
Actor Mark Rylance inhabits the role of the Soviet spy as sort of an enigma. He doesn’t say much and what he does say is without a Russian accent. He displays a calm, even carefree demeanor.
James Donovan: Aren’t you worried?
Rudolf Abel: Would it help?
That straight-faced line gets repeated a few times, always to amusing effect. The screenplay penned by Joel and Ethan Coen along with Matt Charman crackles. Mark Rylance (The Other Boleyn Girl, Anonymous) is an English theater actor, unfamiliar to mainstream audiences. That is until now. This performance show get him some justified attention.
Now if that were the whole plot, it would still have been a good one. Except the saga isn’t over. That’s only half of it. A few years later in 1960, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is an American whose U-2 spy plane is shot down while flying a “reconnaissance mission” over Soviet Union airspace. The CIA sends Donovan abroad to negotiate the release our spy in exchange for theirs. The complications surrounding the tricky negotiations don’t rely on breathtaking action but they are fascinating nonetheless. Spielberg takes some liberties with events and reactions. For example, Donovan’s family did receive threatening letters in real life, but his home was never riddled with bullets by an angry citizen. I guess that is within the realm of dramatic license. Not too objectionable. Steven Spielberg directs with the confidence of a master. He has a fondness for historical epics (Amistad, War Horse, Lincoln). He takes what could have been a dull tale of governmental machinations and imbues it with the necessary amount of reverence and flash. This is compelling stuff but with a measured take. By taking a pivotal Cold War moment that was shrouded in secrecy, he deftly handles the problems of a perplexing storyline and distills it into something entertaining to watch.
10-17-15
Fast Film Reviews 
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